


Can't Be Unseen

by GreyPetticoats



Category: Sally Face (Video Games)
Genre: AU where everything is fine, F/M, Fluff and Angst, Second POV, sal fisher x reader, sal fisher/reader - Freeform
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-09-03
Updated: 2019-12-07
Packaged: 2020-10-06 15:15:00
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 6
Words: 23,396
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20509088
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/GreyPetticoats/pseuds/GreyPetticoats
Summary: All you wanted to do was take Sal Fisher on a date, but some things can't be unseen, some words never get heard, and sometimes a mask is more than just a piece of plastic.





	1. Chapter 1

It wasn't exactly a secret that you were a huge flirt; everyone in your friend group got a taste of it, no matter their gender or sexuality. Larry gets a new shirt? Double pistols and a wink. Todd comes to school wearing contacts? Compliment him on his eye color as he rolls his eyes and reminds you that he's gay. Ash tries out some new makeup look? She's once again made a masterpiece of her flawless canvas of a face. 

Flirting was almost second nature to you, but there was one boy whom you liked flirting with the most; your friend Sal "Sally Face" Fisher. You could hardly help yourself around him. Something about his cute short stature, blue pigtails, kind attitude, and sweet guitar skills had you swooning. He was almost like a porcelain doll, though his prosthetic was actually made out of a more sturdy plastic. 

Still though, you never missed a chance to compliment him or flirt with him or even just talk with him. You had known him for 2 years and in that time he'd become someone who you'd felt totally comfortable and happy with. Developing a crush on the boy wasn't exactly in your plans, but it happened anyway. Despite his obvious feelings for Ashley, you were content just spending time with him. Besides, covering up your crush with the endless flirting made it much more easy. 

It was early September when you two were walking home together with Larry. The crisp fall air wasn't too cold yet, but comfortable enough for flannel and t-shirt combinations. 

"So Ashley's seeing someone from another school now, huh?" Larry said, looking over at Sal. 

"Yeah, she seems really nice." Sal said, "I hope we get to meet her sometime."

"Aren't you bummed though?" Larry replied. "I mean, I know you liked her and all."

"That was last year." Sal shrugged. "I still think she's pretty, but I don't think I've liked her like that for a while now. I'm happy that we're friends, that's all." 

You couldn't help but look up from your phone that you'd been distracted by to listen in on their conversation. Sal didn't like Ash anymore? Why was this news to you? 

"You're a mature dude, Sally Face." Larry nodded as all three of you wandered down into the basement of Addison Apartments. 

It had become a habit by this point- come home from school, go to the basement to do homework, listen to music and hang out, then go home. You all had tried to do homework while listening to music, but it turned out to be more of a distraction than a help. Larry would end up on a tangent about the song, Sal would be listening while his hands would start faking an air guitar, and you just couldn't handle that much noise when trying to study. 

As you all settled into Larry's room, a small beeping sound emitted from Sal's bag. His phone's alarm went off, reminding him to take some of his many medications. 

"Be right back!" he said, scurrying into the bathroom. You and Larry both had assumed a while ago that some of the medicine involved taking off his face. Though you had both seen it- well you had captured a split second glance on accident once- it was agreed upon that you give him privacy when it came to his face. 

You looked over at Larry who was digging through his bag, pulling out loose pieces of paper, trying to figure out which ones he needed to start his homework. 

"Dude, just get a binder. Or a folder!" you said, watching him. "Hell, I'll give you one of mine. Your school organization is seriously stressing me out." 

"It's fine, it's fine." Larry replied, as you heard a paper rip. "Whoops." 

"Was that the math worksheet?" 

"I think so?" he handed over the paper to you. 

"Larry, this was last week's homework! We even did this one together!"

"Hahaha, good thing they didn't check it." 

"They did."

"Oh... shit."

You looked over at the bathroom door for a sec, hesitating a moment and lowered your voice. "I think I'm gonna ask him on a date." you said, pulling out your own homework. 

"Who? Sally Face?" Larry asked, raising an eyebrow. 

"No, your mom. I'm gonna date your mom and you will be my new step-son." You replied dead-pan, but then smirked. "Then we can add to the ever growing list of the not-related category on porn hub."

Larry laughed. "If that wasn't so messed up I'd almost be down. But seriously, you finally gonna do it?"

You nodded. "I've been thinking about this seriously ever since he admitted that he doesn't like Ash anymore."

"So, fifteen minutes."

"Yes."

"Good luck. I don't think he's ever been on a date in his life." 

"Then I'll just have to make it special. If he agrees that is." you shrugged. 

"If who agrees to what?" Sal asked, walking out of the bathroom. 

"I'm asking Lisa on a date." you replied back quickly. "Gonna sweep that sweet lady off her feet, then Larry's gonna have to call me 'mommy' too." 

Sal laughed, "Good luck with that. She's been spending a lot of time with my dad lately, I think they're going on a date this week."

"Is that all that's standing in my way? Then I'll just have to date your dad too. Then you'll both have to call me 'mommy'." 

"Whatever you say." Sal laughed, plopping down next to Larry. 

...

Despite it all though, it took you at least a month to work up the nerve to actually ask Sal out. Deciding that you wanted to was easy, but planning a date was becoming a little more difficult than you anticipated. You were sure he'd be happy with anything that you took him to do- but this was if he agreed to the date in the first place. 

Larry suggested taking him to the Sanity Falls concert that was coming up, but you declined that. Sanity Falls was very much Larry and Sals' thing- not something that you'd ever want to take away from them. Plus, if you were being honest- Sanity Falls and heavy metal wasn't fully your thing either. Sure you knew more about that band than anything else, but that was because of all the time you spent around the boys. 

In any case, a concert in general didn't seem like the best idea for a first date. You'd have to get the tickets in advance and even with your part-time job, that was still a bit of money for an evening where you couldn't even talk to him. You already had a bit of a job listening to his slightly muffled voice, you didn't want to put loud music and screaming teens on top of that. 

You found a similar dilemma with dinner and a movie. It seemed too cliche, really, and not that personal. Besides, you all had done that a million times before. You weren't just getting to know Sal at this point- you wanted to woo him! You wanted to make him feel special! You also wanted your feelings to reach him. 

The mall was a no-go. Sal didn't really like shopping that much, and he usually got harassed by mall security for "wearing a mask". 

It was too cold for the water park.

Walking around town just seemed like you hadn't tried at all to plan anything. 

Nothing was coming together at all. 

You groaned and scribbled out what you were working on in art class for the tenth time. Your hands were covered in charcoal, and it was getting everywhere at this point. 

"What's wrong?" Ash asked, next to you. "That one wasn't so bad."

"It's not the assignment." you admitted. "I... okay so I'm gonna just tell you. I wanna ask Sally on a date but I have no idea where to take him assuming that he'll agree." 

"You like Sally?" She asked, a bit surprised. You nodded. "Oh, that does make sense. I thought you flirted with him a bit more than anyone else." 

"He's sweet." you said, looking down at your paper again, flipping to a clean page and scribbling to give you something to look at. "And he's more kind than anyone I've met. He talked to Travis once and since then he's stopped using those words. He's... got this quiet confidence you know? He turned a cruel nickname into something he wore with pride. He stands up for himself. Sal... even with his self-esteem issues with his face, he... how do I put this? We're all afraid of rejection, he is too. But he also knows that if someone rejects him, then that's not the end of it. He always gives people a chance to actually know him. He's stronger and more brave than anyone else I know."

"Wow, you're serious about this, huh?" Ashley said approvingly. 

"Plus did you see his butt when he was wearing that dress at the last Homecoming dance?" you asked, doodling said butt. 

Ashley laughed. "He did look great." she agreed. 

"I just don't know what to do." you admitted. "I like Sal, I really really like him and I want him to give me a chance. To see me as more than just a flirt, you know? But if I can't even think of a good date to take him on..." 

"He'd love whatever you plan." Ash replied. "But I understand what you mean. Do you have any ideas at all?" 

You handed over the list, complete with commentary from you and Larry in the margins about why it wouldn't work or was too expensive, or too not-Sal or too not-you. 

"Prom's out?" she asked. 

"Prom's next spring." you explained. "I mean, I know there's no time limit on asking him out, but that's a bit far off. Also just feels like too much for a first date, you know?" 

She nodded and continued down the list. "Yeah, I see what you mean." she said. "You need something that you can do together that doesn't lean more towards one person's interest, that still gives you a chance to talk and get to know each other, and that isn't super expensive." 

"First dates are stupid if you already know someone." you grumble. 

"...Oh! I have an idea!" Ashley suddenly grabbed a paper towel in an attempt to wipe off the charcoal on her hands. I got this flier in the mail the other day, I think this would work perfectly!"

You took the flier from her hands carefully as to not make a mess of it. "Fall Festival...?" you read. "Ash, this is perfect!" 

"It's every weekend until mid-November." she said, pointing. "Plus there's a Halloween weekend as well! I think that he'd really like that." 

"Ash, have I mentioned that you are the most amazing and beautiful person I've ever met?" you asked. She just laughed. 

"Save it for Sal."

...

"So you really gonna do it today?" Larry asked, leaning next to your locker. "I'm gonna miss your constant flirting when you and Sally Face get married."

You snorted. "It's okay, you can still call me 'mommy' if you want, but you'll have to call Sal 'daddy'."

"Thanks, I hate it."Larry laughed. "Besides, he's basically like my brother. He can't be my brother and my dad at the same time."

"Not with that attitude!" You closed your locker and pulled your backpack over your shoulders. 

"But seriously," Larry said. "I hope it works out for you. I think you two would be good for each other."

"Thanks." you said quietly. "I'm honestly really nervous but I know that even if he says no today, he'll still be my friend."

"That's just the kind of guy he is." Larry agreed. "And for what it's worth, he thinks your pretty."

"...What?" you snapped your head to look at his shit-eating grin. 

"Oh yeah, I may have done some slight digging and wing-manning for you. Got him to tell me some things."

"What things?!" you demanded. "Tell me everything word for word exactly what he said." 

"I'd love to, but he's right behind you and as I recall you've got an important question to ask him." 

You whipped around behind you and saw the tell-tale pigtails bobbing along down the hall towards the two of you. 

"Larry, I'm gonna kill you one day."

"You're welcome." 

"Hey guys." Sal said as he finally approached you two. "Ready to head home?" 

"Actually, I gotta go pick up some stuff for my mom today." Larry said casually, lying through his teeth. 

"Oh, well we can come along and help out if you want." Sal replied, but Larry shook his head. 

"No worries, I got it. You two go on ahead and we'll catch up later, mk?" 

"Alright then." Sal nodded, turning to you. "So are you ready?"

You smiled down at him, at 5'2 he was a good 4 inches shorter than you, but it hardly mattered. "Ready as I'll ever be." you replied. 

The late-October sky was a bit dark and gloomy with the threat of rain. You zipped up your jacket and hugged yourself for warmth as the wind blew around you. You were starting to regret choosing to look cute over warm today. 

It was quieter walking with Sal without Larry there, but not uncomfortably so. Sal could be both chatty and quiet and it suited him either way. Though normally you wouldn't mind the quiet, you needed to think of some sort of topic that you could use to segue into asking him out. 

"It's too damn cold." you said, blurting out the first thing that came into your mind. 

"It's only 58 degrees." Sal replied. 

"Yes, that's borderline freezing where I'm from." 

"I can keep warm perfectly fine."

"That's ‘cause you're so hot." you replied with a wink. That was better, now you were starting to find your groove. 

The boy let out a small laugh beside you. "It's the prosthetic, isn't it? Girls love the look on Halloween."

"Mike Meyers chic is very sexy." you agreed. "Jason's got nothing on you." 

"Except maybe a foot and a half." he admitted. 

"Speaking of Halloween." You said, bracing yourself. "There's a fall festival coming up this weekend. Actually it's been going on since last weekend but it's still happening this weekend." Shit, you were starting to ramble a bit. You took a deep breath to keep your cool. 

"Yeah? That sounds like it could be fun."

You stopped walking and turned to him and gave him your trademark smirk to hide your nerves. "Then go on a date with me tomorrow. I'd love to go with you." 

The two seconds it took for Sal to answer felt like an eternity. Everything seemed to slow down as he stopped walking and glanced up at you. 

"Uh, sure!" He replied and you could hear it in his voice that he was smiling at you. Your heart seemed to stop for a moment at his words, and for a second you almost faltered and looked surprised. 

"Awesome!" you replied. "Okay, so meet me at 1 in front of the apartments, mk? I'm gonna show you a great time!" 

...

BlankFace: HE SAID YES! 

You texted Ashley excitedly. You managed to keep calm and collected until you made your way back home, but you immediately jumped on the bed and started giggling like mad. After all that planning, you had not only managed to ask out your crush, but you had managed to plan an amazing date as well. 

AshleyFace: Aww, that's great! I hope you two have fun!

BlankFace: And also get this, Larry said that he thinks I'm pretty apparently??

AshleyFace: Well yeah, you are. 

BlankFace: Well I know that but I didn't think Sal did! 

You couldn't stop smiling to yourself. In less than 24 hours you'd be on your first date with Sally Face. With Ashley's help, you had already picked out what you were going to wear and how you were gonna do your make up. In fact, you didn't really have anything to do except wait. You sat up and grabbed your laptop again, pulling up the page for the festival for the hundredth time. Yup, it was still the same schedule, no changes in the weather reports, and no cancellations. 

You kinda regretted being too prepared. 

Behind you, your phone buzzed, and buzzed.... and buzzed. Your group chat seemed to be exploding. 

SallyFace changed the group name to _Scooby Doo Minus the Dog_

LarryFace changed the group name to _Scooby Doo but Good_

BlankFace: You take that back, Larry. Scooby Doo is the shit. 

BlankFace changed the group name to _Scooby Doo Appreciation Fan Club_

SallyFace changed the name of the group to _No Dogs Allowed_

LarryFace: Oops. 

BlankFace. oh shit sorry dude

SallyFace: It's okay!

LarryFace changed the name of the group to _The Putting Your Foot In Your Mouth Club_

AshleyFace changed the name of the group to _Bologna Fan Club_

_ Everyone in the group chat is typing... _

  



	2. Chapter 2

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Feed the boy, woo the boy. How hard can it be?

It was warmer than it had been in the last few days as you stood outside the apartment building. Your jacket was wrapped around your waist instead of over your shoulders, which was fine with you. It’d give a better view of the outfit that you had picked out for the day. You hoped he liked it. You hoped he even noticed it. You weren’t one for dressing up at school too much- it was too much work for too early in the morning. **  
**

You looked at your phone to check the time. It was 10 minutes ‘til one. You still had a little bit of time before Sal showed up. 

“Hey there." 

Or not. Right, Sally was a good guy who actually showed up early to things like this. It was one of the things you really liked about him- he was never ever late. You smiled at him and looked him over. He was still wearing his usual outfit of a black long sleeved shirt and his ripped jeans but today he had let his hair down and was wearing a beanie today. 

"Hey there.” you replied. “No pigtails today?" 

Sal shook his head. "Larry got me this hat, but it’s a bit awkward to wear pigtails at the same time." 

"That’s ok, you look great.” you winked at him. “I’m pretty lucky." 

"Heh, thanks.” his voice sounded a little flustered and you couldn’t help but feel a little proud. 

“Shall we?” you asked offering your hand, and to your surprise he took it. 

“Let’s go!" 

…

The festival was just a few blocks from the apartment building, in the nearby park. It was bigger than you had thought it’d be- from a distance you could see a Ferris wheel, and the smell of popcorn and corn dogs wafted through the air. You thought back to your plan and imagined all the things that you were going to do with Sal today. 

You were gonna romance the shit out of this boy. 

"There’s a lot of people here already” Sal commented, looking around. He was right, there were a ton of people here, and a lot of them were dressed up in costumes. It was the Saturday before Halloween and a lot of the parents in town were using this opportunity to let their kids get candy and dress up beforehand, as Halloween was gonna fall on a Tuesday this year. 

“Maybe we should have dressed up.” you suggested, feeling a little disappointed that you hadn’t thought of it earlier. 

Sal just shrugged. “Most people think I’m just wearing a mask anyway.” he turned his head towards you. “You’re the one that sticks out like a sore thumb.”

You couldn’t help but laugh. “And Sally Face goes in for the kill! And just what are you gonna say when some kid asks what you’re supposed to be?”

He thought for a second. “I’ll just tell them I’m a serial killer. You said it yourself, I’m Jason chic." 

"The Sally Face Killer, huh? Kinda has a nice ring to it, like a good creepy pasta or campfire story." 

"Who do you think I’d kill?” he asked. “If I’m gonna go with this, I gotta make it convincing." 

"Oh you killed everyone in the apartments.” you replied matter-of-factly. “You just went crazy one night and totally snapped and killed everyone because of… I don’t know… Cthulhu or something.”

“That doesn’t make much sense." 

"It’s a scary story, it doesn’t have to make too much sense. You gotta suspend your disbelief.” you smiled. 

You two continued chatting as you took your time walking around the fairground. All around you kids were playing pretend, adults were tasting some home brew ciders, and all the colors of fall and Halloween surrounded you. Even with Sal’s sky blue hair, he fit in perfectly with everyone. No one was staring at him, well, except for you. 

You watched him closely as you walked around. With his prosthetic and one good eye, he could be hard to read outside of his voice, but that was a small challenge that you loved. Reading his body language had been an important factor these past few weeks. He was a very squirmy and antsy guy when it came down to it. There was always some part of him moving- from tapping his pencil when he was concentrating to talking with his hands when he was especially excited about something. Larry once mentioned that he’d make a great mime if he ever decided to not talk. 

Sal stopped for a moment and looked around, his eye landing on a small booth in the corner. Following his gaze, you spotted what he was looking at- a booth selling fresh made applesauce. This couldn’t have been more perfect, you knew for a fact that applesauce was one of his favorite foods. He had confessed that he liked it originally because it was a food that he could more easily eat with his prosthetic on. 

“That smells amazing.” you said. “Wanna go grab some?" 

His hand tightened slightly around yours for a moment, giving it a small squeeze. "I didn’t have lunch.” he admitted. “I got wrapped up in practicing before I realized what time it was." 

"Well, lucky for you we are at a place with a ton of food. Come on, let’s get some applesauce, my treat.”

There were several different flavors to choose from, the lady running the booth explained. The apples were fresh picked from a few towns over, and some of it was being made at the booth. 

“I’ve never had warm applesauce before.” Sal admitted, before a spoon was shoved towards him. 

“Have a sample, dear.” the lady said, not taking no for an answer. 

Sal awkwardly fumbled with the spoon for a moment before unclasping the lower strap of his face. 

“This is really good!” he said with slight surprise. 

“We’ll take two.” You told the lady, handing over the cash. 

“Thank you.” Sal said, as you two walked away with your treats. 

“It’s no problem. I gotta show my date a good time.” you winked at him. 

He replied by shoving another spoonful of applesauce into his mouth. 

The next few hours were simple, walking around and chatting while stopping at different booths to taste and eat all the different carnival foods. You two compared notes, and had a slightly heated debate on which fall flavor was better. Sal liked apple cinnamon, you were a sucker for pumpkin spice. Though you were generous with buying a lot of the treats that you split, you did allow him to buy you two bottles of water and some crazy straws. You knew he wouldn’t have been comfortable if you had been the only one spending money, even if he was a little bit on the completely broke side. 

Phase 1: Feed the Boy was complete, it was time for Phase 2: Woo the boy. 

Wooing in this case meant taking him over to the games and winning him a stuffed animal. You had considered going to the rides first, but after all the food that you two had ingested it was probably a bad idea. 

“What is that?” Sal suddenly asked, stopping in front of a booth. “Please tell me you’re seeing this too, and that it’s just not me." 

It didn’t take long to find what he was staring at- it was a large stuffed cat, seemingly shaped like a specific cartoon character mascot, except the colors were all wrong. It was green and red and yellow with… the Sanity Falls logo on the stomach?

"That is an atrocity against God.” You said in awe. 

“I want it." 

As if he needed to ask, really. Within seconds the two of you were seated at the booth, water guns in hand. No matter what the outcome, Sal was getting that stupid, beautiful, ugly cat.

"Let’s do this.” He said lining up his shot as the two of you attempted to fill the cardboard clowns mouth with water. Had this not been a high steaks mission, you’d make a dirty joke about this, but it wasn’t the time. There was a hideous cat to be won. 

Both of your guns stopped working at the same time. Sal had won. 

“You can pick any of the prizes on this wall.” The guy running the booth said. 

“What do I need to do to get that cat?” Sal replied, pointing to the other side of the booth. 

“Win three times." 

You slammed a few more dollars on the table. "I’m in." 

"You really don’t have to!” Sal replied as he received a small stuffed pink alligator. It was ugly, but you wanted only the most ridiculous for your hopefully-soon-to-be boyfriend. 

“We can’t just leave him here!” you said. “Can you imagine that dumb thing stuck here for weeks with no heavy metal to listen to?”

Sal saw that this wasn’t a battle that he could win. This was your hill to die on, and he sat back down next to you. 

You won this time, that was a good sign, Sal winning a second time. You felt like the guy should have given it to you by the fourth play through where you won, seeing as it was obvious that the two of you were together but no such luck. You supposed he had to make money some way. 

All you needed to do was win one more time, and the cat would be yours. And by yours you meant his. 

Mid game, Sal caught your eye, his water gun jerked slightly to the left, clearly missing for a few seconds before steadying itself back. 

Sal was letting you win, the smug jerk!

You wanted to be offended but you also wanted to laugh. He was letting you win so that you could get the prize! You doubt he even realized that the reason you wanted it so bad was so that you could give it to him! 

Three minutes later, the guy running the booth was handing you the large stuffed cat. 

“He’s even weirder up close.” Noted Sal, looking him over. 

“What are you gonna name him?” you asked, handing him the stuffie. 

“Me?" 

"Yeah you, I won him for you, you know.” you said with a smile.

“But you’re the one who paid for all the games. How much money did you spend at that stand?" 

"Don’t ask questions I don’t want to know the answer to.” You replied with a hand wave. 

“….”

“Hm, if it means that much to you, we’ll do joint custody. You get him during the week, and I’ll take him on Thursdays or something.” You tried to negotiate. 

That seemed to allow Sal to relax. “I think I can live with that. Though I hope Gizmo is okay with me bringing him home a little brother.”

You took his hand again, this time lacing your fingers together. “Knowing your cat, he’ll be fine." 

…

LarryFace: hows the date going?

BlankFace: I think it’s going well! I fed him applesauce and won him the best stuffed animal ever!

Blankface sent Pic_253

LarryFace: aww man I’m jealous :( 

BlankFace: You should be ;D

…

AshleyFace: Hey! How are you doing today?

SallyFace: oh, I’m good! i’m hanging out at the fall festival today

AshleyFace: Hot date? 

SallyFace: haha she’s acting like it is, it’s kinda nice actually

AshleyFace: what do you mean "acting like” …?

SallyFace: g2g, about to go check out the stage!

…

“Come on! I wanna make sure you get a good view!” you said, practically dragging Sally behind you. 

“Why? What’s gonna be on stage?” Sal asked. 

“Something that I think you’re gonna get a kick out of.” you replied, smiling back at him. 

Sal wasn’t one to argue with you at this point; you had been doing such a good job at making sure he had fun that he trusted you with whatever plans you had come up with. He gripped onto you hand tighter as you two weaved through the lawn towards the front of the stage. 

“Looks like they’re just about to start.” you looked over at him with a shit-eating grin as the two person band with acoustic guitars took the stage. They started playing a slow melody before they familiar lyrics played. 

_Concealed behind the screens_

_An obsession obscene _

_Abandon our souls as we become_

_Machine_

Sal froze and stared at the stage for a moment, jerking his head between you and the band in front of you two. 

“No.” he said after a moment more of them playing.

“Yes”

“There’s no way.”

“Oh yes way there is.”

“This isn’t-”

“An acoustic Sanity’s Fall cover band? Oh yes it is." 

You heard Sal snort from under his prosthetic. "Sanity’s Fall was not meant to be played like this." 

"I don’t know, I kinda like it. I can actually understand what they’re saying.” you teased, wrapping an arm around his waist and holding him as close as you dared. You didn’t want to be too forward and made him uncomfortable. To your delight he didn’t pull away or tense up.

“You still think I can play better than these guys, right?” he asked. 

“Dude, of course. You fuckin’ shred." 

That was good enough for Sal, as he turned his attention back to the stage, occasionally making a comment about how the band had transposed from electric to acoustic or about how one song didn’t make any sense unless you can head bang to it. You smiled and allowed yourself to watch him, glad that you were on the same side as his glass eye- it gave you an easier time to watch without him noticing. 

A few songs later and the cover band left the stage. In a weird way, it had been a nice compromise to Larry’s original idea of taking Sally to a real SF concert. Plus getting to see all the confused parents and adults around the stage really made it work. 

"So, is there anything you want to do?” you asked him as you both left the stage area. 

“I thought you had all the plans.” Sal teased. 

“Oh, I do.” you reassured him. “I had to leave room for 'let my date choose something to do’, you know.”

“So I can pick anything?” he asked. 

“Anything at all.”

“I want you to get your face painted.”

That surprised you. “Really? I mean, sure if you want me too, but why?”

“I can tell that you feel a little left out that you aren’t dressed up for Halloween.” he admitted. “I want you to feel happy, too.”

That dumb boy made your heart melt on the spot. How was he able to see through you like that? He started leading you to the face paint station, and shoved some money at the lady before you even had a chance to protest. 

“What’ll it be?” they asked. 

You took a look at their board, and pointed to a picture of a girl with the top of her face as a pumpkin looking mask. You didn’t want a full face, especially something on your mouth. 

Sal watched with amusement as the lady went to work turning you into a pumpkin. Halfway through he snapped a pic and sent it to the group chat. 

SallyFace sent Pic_003

LarryFace: its the great pumpkin charlie face!

…

AshleyFace: Hey Larry, I think there might be a problem with the date

LarryFace: what u mean?

AshleyFace: I don’t think Sal realizes this is an actual date.

LarryFace: what?? hes gotta! i even gave him the heads up that she wanted to take him on a date!

AshleyFace: ???? What exactly happened?

LarryFace: well me and sally face were talking about dates and he said hed never been on one and i said that she had been thinking about asking him on a date cause she wanted to give him a good first date

AshleyFace: Dammit Larry, don’t meddle in these kinds of things! I think you gave Sal the idea that this is some sort of fake date!

LarryFace: oh fuck knuckles 

…

“What do you think?” you asked, smiling at Sal and batting your eyelashes. 

“I think it’s cute!” he replied. “They did a great job with the shading." 

"Thanks for doing this for me, by the way. That was very sweet of you." 

"It’s only fair, you won me this cat." 

"Then I guess we’re even right now. But I’m gonna win.”

“Win what?”

“Your heart, of course.” you said with an easy grin. You wished you had a better idea of what was going through his head. Normally you could gauge how well your flirting went over by how pink his ears turned, but with him wearing the hat, you didn’t have much to go off of. 

The sun was starting to set at this point, even though it was barely 5 pm. Though it had only been a few hours, it felt so much shorter and yet so much longer. You tightened your grip on his hand slightly, knowing that with his singular eye he wasn’t a huge fan of walking around at night in a crowd. There were a lot more older people here now that it was getting darker- a lot of the parents must have decided to take the kids home. 

You thought back to everything you saw online about the festival, trying to decide if it’d be better to go on rides now or start looking around at some of the art tents. 

“I’ve never been on a Ferris wheel.” Sal offered, suddenly. It was almost as if he was reading your mind, that or he was trying to change the subject from your previous flirting. 

“Wanna ride?” you asked, wiggling your eyebrows suggestively. He let out a small laugh. 

“It looks like it could be fun.”

The two of you stood in line for a good 45 minutes before you were able to get on. You two had discussed tapping out, but both of you decided that you were too invested at this point. It was okay though, it was still a good time to talk and flirt with him. 

Once you two were on the ride, it quickly became apparent at how rickety and unsafe this whole thing felt. There was nothing to stop either of you from falling except for a metal bar and Gods’ Will. As your cart went up one to let the next people on the ride, you suddenly remembered something very important, and you gripped at the handle bar tightly. 

“Wow, this thing sure is janky. Hey, are you okay?” Sal asked. 

“Fine.” you replied quickly and tensely as the Ferris wheel moved upwards again. 

“You don’t seem fine.”

“…I may have just remembered that I am not really a super huge fan of being anywhere except for on the ground.” you admitted, not wanting to really say-

“You’re afraid of heights?" 

Dammit Sally Face. 

"And you know that feeling you get when you’re on a roller coaster and you go over a hump and your stomach does that thing where it drops?” you asked, he nodded. “Not a huge fan of that either." 

"Is that why you always decline going on roller coasters with me and Larry?” Sal asked, as you two moved up once again. You couldn’t help but nod. 

“Sorry. I lied. I’m not actually as hard core as you two.” You gave him a weak smile, going up once more, almost to the top now. 

He reached out and place his hand on top of one of yours. “It’s okay. I won’t tell anyone.” You two were now at the top, the sun shining directly behind Sal’s head making him look like an angel. 

What kind of romantic bullshit was this? You were supposed to be wooing him, not the other way around! But still, it let you relax a bit as the two of you moved down one. Everyone was now on the ride and it was time to start spinning for real. 

The first go-round was the worst, but it got easier after that. The whole time Sal pointed out different things that he could make out to distract you, and by the time the ride was over you had found yourself having fun, even if it was on a spinning death machine. 

Your legs were a bit shaky as you two exited the ride, but you were smiling wide. “I didn’t completely hate it and it’s all thanks to you, Sally Face." 

"I knew you could do it.” This time he took your hand, and your heart raced for a moment. 

Together you went on a few more rides. Despite your lack of enthusiasm for the Ferris wheel, you were a master at anything that spun around really fast, though after two of those rides, Sal had to tap out. 

“The applesauce was good going down, but I don’t think it’d be good coming back.” he said. 

You wished that there had been some sort of fireworks or big ending to the date, but the festival didn’t have anything like that. Come and have fun til 9 then leave, was the basic idea. 

It was 7 now, two hours until everything shut down but you could tell that the two of you were starting to get tired and had seen almost everything there was. 

“This was a lot of fun.” Sal said as you two headed towards the exit. 

“I’m glad you enjoyed it." 

"And you said this was happening every weekend until mid-November, right?”

“Yup! It’s-”

“What are you supposed to be?” you suddenly heard a voice next to you. Some middle-schooler with fake blood coming out of every opening on their face was staring at the two of you. 

“I’m the pumpkin queen.” You replied. 

“Not you, that one.” the kid said, pointing at Sal. 

“I’m the Sally Face Killer.” he replied without missing a beat and you couldn’t help but smile. 

“Where’d you get your mask? I want it.” the kid replied, still staring intently at Sal. 

“It’s a prosthetic.” Sal explained. “It protects my face from-”

“So you’re like, a total freak under there?”

“Woah, he now kid. Don’t be rude.” you quickly spoke up. “Come on, Sal let’s go.”

You started to pull him away, when you felt a slight catch. Sal let out a surprised grunt and you turned around to look at him. 

For the very first time, you were truly face to face with Sal Fisher. 


	3. Chapter 3

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> You make the title of the fic relevant.

'He has no nose.' was the first thing that came to your mind as you found yourself staring in shock at the face of your date clearly for the first time. For as many scary movies you’d seen with Sal and Larry, his face was nothing like the special effects makeup you had grown used to. Sal’s face was real, and it shocked you.

While you had caught glimpses of him before, it had only been his chin and mouth. You knew that there had been a chunk of his jaw that was misshapen, you saw the deep scar on his mouth as well as the slight discoloration where skin grafts had taken place.

You weren't prepared for the lack of nose, or the rigid scarred skin that covered most of his face. It scared you- not in a way that would have you running in fear, but in a way a friend would jump out from behind a wall. A moment of horror before realizing that there was no danger, realizing that it was still your friend.

The shock lasted all of a moment until the kid spoke up again quietly, holding Sal's prosthetic in his hand.

"Oh..." was all he said before Sal snatched his face back.

"Hope you're satisfied." Sal mumbled after he clicked it back into place. You looked away, but you already knew it was too late.

Sal had seen the look on your face when you had seen his, and it wasn't a good one. Guilt washed over you in seconds, replacing the shock. This isn't what you had wanted. Yes, you did want to see his face at some point, but not like this. Not when it wasn't on his terms in a way where you could make him feel safe and have it go as slow as you both needed. But it was too late, you had both seen everything.

You fucked up.

He started walking away quickly and you almost had to jog to catch up to him. It was quiet between the two of you but unlike previous times where the quiet had been comforting, this time it was tense and uncomfortable. You couldn't believe how badly you fucked up at such an important moment. You could only imagine how hurt he must be right now, when all you wanted to do was apologize.

His hand wasn't in yours anymore, and it felt empty. You opened your mouth a few times to say something, anything, to try and convey how sorry you were and that you never wanted to hurt him and that you were just shocked and to please just talk to-

"Every weekend, right?" he asked, still looking straight ahead.

"...What?"

"This happens every weekend until Mid-November. That's what you said, right?" You tried to get a read on his voice, but you couldn't. The challenge that you loved was now just a confusing mess.

"Y-yeah."

"Let's go again next weekend." Sal said, his voice softer and not so distant. Your heart leapt in your chest and your breath caught in your throat. Had you not fucked up so badly after all? Despite what had just happened, had today been enough for your feelings to reach him?  
"I- y-yeah sure!" you said quickly, staring at him, though he continued to stare ahead, not glancing at you at all. That should have been your first clue.

"Yeah, I think Larry and Ashley would really have a lot of fun." Sal continued. "We didn't have a chance to check out many of the art exhibits and I think Larry would be a better ride partner than me."

Oh.

This was his way of letting you down gently. It's not like it had been your plan to confess tonight, but it looked like he wasn't even going to give you the chance. Knowing Sal, he was probably doing this to save you the embarrassment after everything that had happened.

Sal Fisher didn't feel the same way about you. You knew that this was always going to be a possibility, but you didn't think it'd hurt this bad.

Who knew that the Sally Face Killer's method was to stab you in the heart?

Still though, you had a reputation to uphold, if he was doing his best to let you down easily, the least you could do was take the rejection with grace. You'd save the crying for when you got home, in the privacy of your own bed.

"Yeah, with all that headbanging he does, a few rides on those spinning things should be a piece of cake." your voice cracked slightly at the end, and you tried to hide it with a cough.  
Addison Apartments was coming up close on you both, and you felt relieved.

"Thanks for inviting me out today." Sal said as you headed in. "I'm gonna go check on Larry."  
He was gonna go tell Larry about how badly you fucked up.

"Alright." you replied. "I'll, uh, see you at school then."

For a few moments you were alone on the first floor as Sal used the elevator to go down. He had thanked you, but it didn't feel genuine. He was usually the first to tell someone if he had fun but those last few moments had completely tarnished everything. It wouldn't even surprise you if he shoved the stuffed animal somewhere he would never have to look at it again.

The elevator finally dinged and you were thankful that no one was inside. It was when the doors finally closed that tears started to form in your eyes. Your parents would be out late tonight- Saturday was their date night. You could go to your room and cry all you wanted without having to worry about them asking intruding questions.

Walking into the kitchen, you kicked off your shoes and headed to your room quickly, shutting the door behind you. How had today gone so wrong? How could you have reacted so poorly to seeing your friend and crushes' face?

And now that you had seen his face, what did that mean? Of course, it was too late to do anything about your feelings at this point, Sal had seen the look on your face when you stared at him. There was no coming back from that. Actions aside though, what did seeing his face really mean to you in terms of how you felt about him?

You laid down and closed your eyes, tears still running down your face. Taking deep shaky breaths to try and calm your nerves, you brought the image of his face to mind, at least what you could remember what you had seen today.

It was best to think of one piece of his face at a time, starting from the bottom up. You had seen his chin before, that wasn't anything that bothered you by now. His lips were thinner than you had thought to begin with, though that was probably because the few times you had glimpsed them, it had been shadowed by the prosthetic. The upper lip was slightly misshapen, as if a part of it had been torn and sewn back together. His lips still looked soft though,

The nose. Okay, that was something that would take some getting used to. You think there was a slight bump where a nose would normally be, as though the doctors had attempted to keep some of the cartilage in place. The more you thought about it, the more okay it became.

Skin, you didn't have a problem with. It was patchy and uneven in texture and color but it was okay. There were scars all over his face, from deep looking gashes to sharp thin lines. The skin was pale or red mostly, unsurprising as you were sure that the prosthetic didn't allow much sunlight- not that he would ever take it off outside anyway. His skin also seemed thin and delicate. You briefly wondered what it would feel like to touch his cheeks and feel the different textures of his face. Would he even allow someone to get that close?

His eyes were the least surprising to you. His eyes had darker circles than you had noticed before, but they were still the same eyes. Or eye? For the sake of argument, you went with eyes. Underneath the prosthetic you sometimes had trouble seeing his eyes, but sometimes when the light hit him just right you were struck by how blue they were. You had grown to love that shade of blue.

Blue hadn't meant much to you until you met Sal Fisher.

The overall expression was... blank. Almost as neutral as his prosthetic. You wondered if it was because he didn't want to show any emotion while so vulnerable or because for so long he never needed his face to communicate.

As you pieced together his face in your mind, a pain shot through your heart as you realized something important.

No matter what his face looked like, you still desperately liked him.

The next hour was dedicated to clinging to your pillow and crying ugly tears. The next was dedicated to looking over your phone and trying to decide if you should talk to Larry or Ashley about what happened.

You couldn't tell them the whole truth, you decided. They had both seen Sals' face before and had been so kind about it. The way Sal talked about it, they didn't even blink at the sight of him.  
You felt awful.

Your phone dinged.

AshleyFace: So how'd it go?

Here goes nothing. You were glad you were home alone in your room and not around anyone else.

BlankFace: Sal was a complete gentleman and let me down gently. I'm glad I had a chance to go out with him though, I don't have any regrets.

You had so many regrets.

AshleyFace: He turned you down? I'm so sorry. I thought you two would have been a cute couple.

BlankFace: It's okay, at least now you and I can finally be together ;)

AshleyFace: Ha ha. I don't think my girlfriend would like that too much.

BlankFace: I meant me and Todd.

AshleyFace: He's still super gay and I think he's got a date with someone coming up.  
BlankFace: ....Chug?  
AshleyFace: You know he's got a huge thing for Maple LOL

BlankFace: Is everyone hooking up except me??

AshleyFace: Larry?

BlankFace: I don't think I have the heart to come between him and his right hand. I'm a flirt, not a homewrecker.

AshleyFace: LMAO

You smiled as you hunched over your phone. You couldn't bring yourself to tell her exactly what happened, but at least you were able to talk to her a little bit. Acting like you were okay made everything else a little bit more okay.

What you both saw couldn't be unseen, but you could at least try and move forward. You just hoped that you hadn't lost him as a friend.

...

School on Mondays always suck, but school on Mondays after a terrible first date with a close friend sucked way harder than anything else. You shoved your book bag into your locker and headed towards the cafeteria where most people gathered before class started. Normally you would have walked together with Sal and Larry but you had dragged your feet all morning, and told the group chat to go on ahead before you. Sal always liked being more early, and though Larry wasn't exactly a morning person he'd always show up to school with his best friend.

You looked over at the table where you all met and froze for a moment. You hadn't spoken a word to Sal since Saturday and a knot formed in the pit of your stomach. It was a nauseating feeling to think about going over there and acting like nothing had happened at all this weekend.  
It was easier to just head towards Homeroom, a quiet period where you didn't have any of your friends to talk to. You decided that it would be better to lay low for a while.

Laying low wasn't super hard. You had art with Ashley and Larry (though Larry was seated at the opposite end of the room, making it slightly easier to avoid any questions), and Ashley wasn't one to pry unless she was convinced that something was wrong. You had never really told anyone the extent of your crush on the boy with pigtails, so making her think you were really okay was surprisingly easy.

Though Larry was usually one to drop subjects if asked, you found it harder to avoid any questions from him. He pulled you to the side between classes and tried to ask what happened.

"He's not interested." you replied, trying to shrug it off. "It's no one's fault."

"It... might be mine." Larry suddenly said. "I think I might have said something to make him think that it wasn't a real date."

Oh the irony. You almost wished he was right and that was the reason things were now awkward between you and Sal. You shook your head and place a hand on his shoulder.

"If that's the case, then it's double clear that he wasn't interested." you said with a small smile.

"Looks like my crush was dead on arrival, huh?"

"I'm really sorry about it." Larry frowned.

"Dude, it's fine." just had to shake him off the trail of your shattered heart now. "Now that's Sal's off the list you better watch yourself- you're third in line."

"Third? Wait, who's second?"

You just smiled and winked at him as you ducked into your next class.

It seemed like Sal hadn't told Ashley and Larry about what happened at the end of the date. It was a relief, really. You still weren't ready to face them about how you had treated the guy you had a crush on.

Science class was torture. It was the one class that you had with Sal, though you didn't sit near him. He was seated near the front and you sat a few seats behind him. On one hand, it meant that he wouldn't be looking at you but on the other, it meant that you got to spend the rest of the hour staring at the back of his head. It wasn't something that normally distracted you, but today it made focusing nearly impossible.

When the bell rang for lunch, you took your time packing up as you tried to figure out if Sal was going to approach you or not. He briefly glanced over at you, making you feel like a deer in the headlights for a moment. But he continued out the door without saying a word.  
Suddenly you didn't have much of an appetite.

Still though, you grabbed your bagged lunch from your locker and walked towards the cafeteria, hesitating a moment before walking in and then walking right back out. You suddenly decided that your homework wasn't gonna do itself, so you got a permission slip from one of the teacher on lunch duty and made your way to the school library. You weren't allowed to eat in there, but you weren't hungry anyway.

The library is where you spent lunch for the rest of the week. It was the one period you had where you felt okay, without the crippling guilt. You could hide in a back corner with your nose in a book, or study, or draw, and the world would leave you alone.

"Are you avoiding Sally Face?" a voice said from behind you, causing you to jump. You had been so deep into a book that you hadn't heard anyone coming towards you.

"Ah, what?" you turned to see Larry. "I uh... what?"

"We haven't seen you all week." he continued. "Sally Face is starting to think you're avoiding him."

"I'm not!" you said, defensively. "I've just got a lot of school work that I need to catch up on."  
He just shook his head. "You haven't been walking home with us either."

You didn't have a rebuttal for that one. "I... I just..." you sighed. "Things got weird between us after last weekend."

"Listen, I kinda get it. You liked Sal more than you let on, yeah? And it's weird now that you know he's not interested but, dude, you can't just keep ignoring all of your friends. You do still want to be friends with him, right?"

You nodded.

"Then stop being a coward, and walk home with us again. If you wanna keep hiding in the library at lunch that's fine but... we all miss you."

There was a slight pang in your chest at the words.

"Even Sal...?" you asked quietly, unsure.

"Of course he does. He's the reason I'm talking to you right now. He wanted to talk to you himself but he didn't wanna make your uncomfortable and shit."

"Really...?" you couldn't help but be surprised. "I thought I blew it..."

"Just 'cause he didn't feel the same way doesn't mean he doesn't still like having you around."  
"I'm an idiot I guess."

"Well yeah, duh." he laughed. "Now you're gonna come home with us today, no buts."

"But I like butts." you shot back with a smirk.

"There it is." he laughed again. "See you after school."

"Hey, Larry?"

"Yeah?"

"Thanks."

...

It became an unspoken agreement that you and Sal didn't talk about the date, and what had happened. It was okay though, you didn't want to face him in a manner of speaking. You three started walking to school again, though it was a few weeks before you really felt okay being so close to him.

Larry was the real champ about it though, he never let the conversations become awkward between the three of you. He always had some topic to talk about, or some song he wanted to share on your morning commutes. You didn't know what you did to have such a great friend but you were thankful.

Sal started to slowly talk to you again as well. Despite what Larry had said it was hard to read Sal, or maybe you just weren't ready to read him yet. Talking was slow at first, his questions about science homework, asking him to grab an extra fork at lunch because you forgot to grab one, small talk. But as the fall semester crawled by, you found your friendship starting to stand on solid ground again.

Flirting with him never felt the same though. It didn't feel right to flirt with someone who had turned you down. At the same time it felt as though he was also keeping his distance from you. You really couldn't blame him. If someone looked at you in shock and horror upon seeing your face for the first time, you wouldn't exactly want to be close to them either.

Sometimes when you two were left alone for more than a few minutes, you considered bringing it up. You'd get so close to opening your mouth to talk to him but the words would die in your throat. On the one occasion where the words started to make their way out of your mouth, Todd had shown up to introduce you to his new boyfriend, Neil.

Timing was really not your thing, huh?

November came and went and your whole group buckled down to study for finals. There were many long nights where you were all crowded into Larry's basement, papers and books strewn everywhere as you all attempted last minute cramming and tutoring on each other. There was more than one night where Lisa would come home to see a handful of kids passed out in her living room, surrounded by notes, or still awake and color coding flashcards.

On one such night, you noticed that Sal was chugging an energy drink that Larry had given him through a crazy straw. One of the two that Sal had bought for you on that night.

You couldn't tell if it hurt or helped that he still had it.

Finals ended with a fizzle rather than a bang. You were very unsure about science, but you were confident enough that you at least passed the rest of the tests. By the time the bell rang to let you all out on the last day, everyone had collectively agreed that they were done talking about tests.

Making your way back to Addison apartments was proving to be more difficult than expected for the three of you. It had snowed the day before and rained a little at night, making the sidewalk a long tail of ice and slush. Normally this wouldn't have been a problem, as you all had snow boots, but you had all collectively used the last three brain cells to finish up with school for the semester. This, combined with the lack of sleep from cramming, had left you all feeling slightly delirious and deciding that the three of you slipping and stumbling around was the funniest thing to ever happened.

"Nope! Nope! Nope! Bad step!" you laughed, stumbling forward after stepping on a hidden patch of ice. You managed to not fall flat on your face this time but you were sure it was going to happen eventually.

"Larry you should take one for the team and go first." Sal said. "We'll follow behind in your footsteps."

"No way, Sally Face." Larry replied. "If I go first and fall backwards that's a whole domino effect where I end up on top of you both."

"My one fantasy." You said with a dramatic sigh as Larry turned and winked at you.

Dragging Sal into your flirts was okay if you roped someone else into it as well.

"I'll go first!" You volunteered, stretching your legs out to take a big step forward.

"You've fallen more times than anyone!" Sal said with a shake of his head.

"Details, details." you said with a hand wave. "Besides, we're almost there! I can see the apart- OOF!"

Your foot landed on another patch of ice, causing you to fall backwards. Larry, having been right next to you by the point, grabbed onto your arm tightly to try and steady you, but the force of your fall was too much. Something softer that the ground was suddenly pressed against your back, as Larry was pressed against your chest.

"Ow."

"Oof."

"Fuck."

Your fall had both pulled Larry down and knocked Sal over as well. Sal had landed on his butt after unintentionally catching you on the way down, and Larry had ended up on to of you, having landed on his knees pretty hard. The three of you were a little confused for a second, before you decided to break the tension.

"My other one fantasy."

Larry let out a laugh that was more like a snort as he made his way back onto his feet. Behind you, you could hear Sal let out a small laugh as well. It took some doing, but eventually you all managed to stand back up, brushing off the snow and dirt from your clothes.

"Anyone hurt?" you asked.

"Scraped knee and hands." Larry said.

"Scrapped elbow." you replied.

"Scrapped butt." Sal added.

"Want me to kiss it better?" you and Larry both said at the same time before all three of you started laughing again.

Through the power of teamwork, the three of you managed to make it to the apartment complex with much fewer casualties. Larry left you two alone quickly, stating he wanted to get his hands cleaned up so his mom wouldn't worry. It seemed weird that he was in a rush to get going, but then Sal spoke up.

"Hey uh, do you want to take a walk?"

You looked at him slightly surprised at the invitation. When was the last time you had been alone for more than a few minutes to talk?  
No, you already knew the answer.

"Sure." you agreed, and he lead you around the building, starting a trek of doing laps.  
It was quiet for a while, with nothing but the sound of your shoes crunching against the fresh snow. A cold breeze made you hug yourself and adjust the scarf around your neck so that it covered your mouth. Dumb you had forgotten to bring lip balm, and you really didn't want to get chapped lips. The sound of your name from right next to you bought you back down to Earth.

"Are we... okay?" Sal asked, still looking ahead as he spoke.

You weren't sure how to answer that, or even if there was a good answer to be given.

"I... huh?"

"That night at the festival," Sal continued. "You saw what was under my prosthetic."

Oh. Oh no. You weren't ready for this conversation. You weren't ready to talk to him about this. Panic bubbled in the pit of your stomach. There was no going back now.

"Yeah... I did." you said quietly. "I'm sorry."

"You didn't rip my face off."

You shook your head. "No but... I..." you took a deep breath, willing the small lump in your throat to go away. "I shouldn't have reacted like I did."

"Is that why you've been avoiding me?" His voice was soft, comforting, non-judgmental. It made you want to cry even more.

"No... well, not fully." you started, and after a moment of silence you continued. "I saw your face and reacted badly and I hated myself for reacting badly because Ashley and Larry both saw without freaking out or saying anything and I couldn't be like that for you so I just thought it’d be better to stay away."

You finally took a breath after spewing up the word vomit. You didn't mention him not returning your feelings as you hoped that went without saying.

"I'm used to people looking at me like that." He was trying to make you feel better, but the words just cut into your heart. Your eyes felt hot as they started to water, but you were trying hard not to let any tears escape.

"You shouldn't though!" you snapped back. "You... you're a great guy and I like you a lot and you shouldn't have to deal with stupid people like me not knowing how to react to your face!"  
He stopped walking and looked at you. Tears were escaping your eyes now, and you were shaking hard. He reached up and placed a hand on your shoulder.

"Do you still want to be friends?" he asked softly.

You nodded and he pulled you into a tight, warm hug. Your nose was smooshed up against his ear muffs, and you were sure that some of your tears were landing in his hair but you felt okay for the first time in months.

It was scary how empathetic and kind Sal could be. Always willing to give people as many chances as they needed to grow. You hoped that one day you could show someone even a fraction of the kindness that he had shown you.

"I missed you." He said, not letting go of you.

"I missed you, too." you whispered back.

You two stayed like that for a while. Even though it was freezing outside, his hug was so warm. It was you who ended up pulling back first, not wanting to accidentally get some snot into his hair.

"Now that things are better I wanted to ask you something." Sal said, starting to walk again, you fell into step with him.

"What's up?"

"Dad's wanting to have a small holiday party next week." Sal explained. "Nothing fancy but he wants you and Ashley and Larry to come by and roast marshmallows and watch Rudolf."

You couldn't help but smile. "That sounds like a lot of fun, actually. I'd love to drop by."

The two of you were in front of the building again, and he lead the two of you inside.

"Cool, the party starts at six next Friday." He pushed the button for the elevator.

"Six on Friday. Gotcha." you pulled out your cell and made a note of it."

The two of you said your goodbyes as he made his way to the basement to invite Larry and you made your way back up to your room.

Things were finally starting to feel normal again.

...

LarryFace: so did you 2 kiss and make up yet?

BlankFace: Too soon. But we did make up.

LarryFace: u goin to the party then?

BlankFace: Yup! You?

LarryFace: ya me and mom are gonna be there

BlankFace: Cool! See you there then!

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you to @Ochibi-Chan on tumblr for the fan art! <3


	4. Chapter 4

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> You go to a holiday party and consider abandoning ship.

The week leading up to the party at Sal’s place wasn’t anything exciting. You spent most of it either catching up on your sleep or hanging out in the basement with Larry, Sal, and whoever else was around at the time. It wasn’t exciting, but it was normal which is all you could have hoped for after everything that happened. Sure, you still found yourself harboring feelings for your friend but it was more tolerable now. You still held yourself back from flirting too hard for him, but when anyone else was around it was a lot easier. **  
**

“Hey, your dad need any decorations for the party?” you asked one evening as you all huddled around the tv, none of you paying much attention. “My parents have so many Christmas decorations they don’t have room to put out, I’m sure they’d be happy to lend it to someone else.” 

“I’ve never seen anyone act more like a cheesy holiday special like your parents.” Larry said, shoving some popcorn in his mouth. “It’s almost creepy how much they try to push the holiday spirit.” 

You just shrugged. “They met and fell in love during the holidays, so they really are the living embodiment of every bad holiday rom com.” 

“Got any decorations that aren’t strictly Christmas?” Sal asked. “Dad’s trying to be more inclusive.” 

“Oh yeah, we got tons of general winter stuff. Plus my uncle’s wife is Jewish, so we have an alarming number of dreidels and star of David’s for a house that doesn’t even go to church. Larry stop hogging the popcorn!” you scold, pulling the half-eaten bowl away from your friend. 

“Come on, I’m hungry!” he pouted. 

“You’re stoned.” Sal corrected. 

“Puff puff pass includes more than the joint, Larry. You gotta share the snacks, too.” you laughed at him and threw an unpopped kernel at him. 

“It’d actually be helpful if you could bring some decorations.” Sal said, pushing some popcorn under his mask. “I love my dad but he’s really bad at this kind of thing. I think it was actually Lisa’s idea.” 

“Yeah, my mom’s been doing the decorating for Addison Apartments for about 10 years now.” Larry chimed in. “Sometimes they give her a budget for it, but most of the time she’d had to reuse old stuff that’s fallen apart.” 

“My parents go wild for post-holiday sales so we should have some sturdy things lying around. I’ll see what I can dig up.”

...

LarryFace: who else is coming to the party?

SallyFace: us, Ashley and her new girlfriend, Todd, Neil, Chug, Maple, your mom uh...

LarryFace: that’s a lot of highschoolers for a holiday party your dad wants to throw

SallyFace: yeah but I think its cause he wants me to be a normal teen and have a normal party for once. I didn’t even start celebrating my birthday until I moved here

LarryFace: wait really? I had no idea. 

SallyFace: yeah theres also a chance hes using this as a way to fake a surprise party for me

LarryFace: SallyFace is gonna finally be 18, i’m so proud. No more having to lie on porn sites that youre an adult!

SallyFace: ha ha and did I mention ha? 

...

You spend most of Friday digging through the large tubs of old decorations that your parents hadn’t put out, picking out what would be the best and easiest to bring upstairs to Sal’s place. You couldn’t help but shake your head, when it came to winter decorations, your parents were borderline hoarders. Really, you were doing them a solid by going through all this stuff and throwing out broken decorations or unsafe looking Christmas lights. 

The past 3 years that you lived in the apartments, come winter time you always knew which window was yours when looking outside the building. Your parents always insisted on some sort of light up winter decoration, as they didn’t have a house to fully blow the power out on every December. It was one of the few things you humored them on. You didn’t want your own personal tree in your room, but you could live with a snowman waving out at anyone who happened to be on the street. 

After filling a small tub with enough decorations, you looked at the clock and cursed to yourself. It was already 4 pm and you told Sal that you’d be their early to help set up! That didn’t give you much time to get ready. 

You rushed through your routine of getting ready, changing into your favorite comfortable outfit and topping it with a Santa hat to keep it festive. Despite the rush job, you had to admit to yourself that you looked pretty damn good. It had been a while since you had dressed up for yourself, without worrying about wanting to impress anyone. This was you, and you liked it. 

Shoving keys in your pocket, you ran to the fridge and pulled out two bottles of apple cider that your parents had bought. 

Have fun at your party! We’ll be out late recreating the first night we met!

Which you decided to translate to “gone boning for the weekend, don’t die”. Gross, but at least you go the place to yourself for the next few days. 

With everything in hand, you finally made your way to the elevator and towards the Fisher apartment. Henry was the one to open the door and let you in, thanking you for lending him the decorations. 

“These are from my parents.” you added, handing over the bottles of cider. 

“Alright, now it’s a rager!” Larry laughed from the kitchen while his mom laughed. Looks like they came here early as well to help out. From where you stood, you could see that Larry was also wearing a Santa hat with the word ‘naughty’ on it. 

“Do you want to give me a hand with the decorations?” Lisa asked, still managing to be in work mode even on her day off. “I’m sure we can make this place look real special for tonight.” 

“Is anything special specifically happening?” Asked Sal, his head facing your direction. 

“Nope, it’s just a nice little holiday party for our sons and their friends.” Lisa replied. 

“So I should ignore the cake that my dad brought home and is hiding somewhere?” Sal asked with a small laugh. 

“You sure should if you don’t want to be smacked with a broom.” Lisa scolded playfully. 

“She’ll do it too, dude.” chimed in Larry. 

Sal held his hands up in defeat. “I understand, this is just a regular holiday party that just happens to fall very close to my actual birthday and the fact that you had me invite all of my friends and none of yours it just a coincidence.” 

“Now you’re getting it, son!” Henry laughed. 

With your decorations, Lisa’s eye for making things work, and Larry’s tallness, by the time 6 rolled around, the apartment looked awesome. There were strands of lights hanging all around, food on the counter and table, and Larry was setting up a tape deck to play music. From the corner of your eye you saw Larry remove a green and red tape and Sal putting in an older more beat up tape. They pressed play and you were a little surprised to hear generic holiday music play. Larry caught you eye and gave you a wink that made you feel like something was gonna happen later. 

Todd and Neil were the first to arrive, not surprising as Todd lived in the building as well. You and Neil had English together but had never really talked before, but Todd was really happy with him and that’s all that mattered. 

Ashley arrived next with her new girlfriend, Jamie. She was pretty cute and bubbly and excited to meet and talk to everyone. You swear that when it was your turn to talk that you went through five different topics in three minutes before the bounced to the next person. Jamie sure was energetic, but she’d always bounce back to Ashley to give her a kiss on the cheek or check on her. It was too damn adorable really. 

The arrival of Chug and Maple surprised everyone. They showed up late, citing that he’d been waiting for Maple to arrive, but that wasn’t what surprised everyone. What was surprising was him and Maple holding hands as they walked in. 

“We’ve been dating for a few weeks,” explained Maple. “I just didn’t wanna make it public until I thought it was solid.” 

You were happy for the two of them, but you were starting to see a pattern with the guest list. Was this a holiday party or a Valentines party? You found yourself glancing at Lisa who leaned over to give Henry a quick peck on the cheek before moving some chairs around. 

“They also made it official with us right after Thanksgiving.” Sal said, watching his dad and Lisa. “I’m really happy for them.” 

“Yeah, me and Sal have a master plan to make them get married so that we can be one big family.” Larry explained. “Total Parent Trap material.” 

“Seems more like an It Takes Two to me.” you offered up. 

“So Sal,” Larry said, looking around the party. “Why didn’t you tell me that this was a hook-up party? Looks like everyone brought a date but us.” 

Sal shrugged. “I didn’t really plan for it to be, looks like everyone just got together at once.” 

Larry suddenly slung his arm around your shoulder. “Well if that’s the case then I call dibs on this one.” 

You couldn’t help but let out a laugh. “Do I get a say in this at all? Come on Larry, at least pretend to romance me.”

“You’re hot, lets date.” Larry replied, and you couldn’t help but fake a swoon. 

“I’m won over instantly. I’m changing all my relationship statuses to ‘taken’. You are clearly my soulmate.” The three of you couldn’t stop laughing. 

“Wait, that means I’m the only one here without a date at my own not-birthday party.” Sal suddenly realized. 

“Sounds like a bad song from the 50’s.” 

“At least I still have Gizmo?” Sal replied half-heartedly. 

“I wouldn’t be too sure about that, dude.” Larry said looking over at Todd and Neil where Gizmo was enjoying the attention from the two of them. 

“He only loves you for your pets and food!” Sal called over to them in fake hurt. 

“Tough break, Sal.” you said. “But hes’ got the right idea. I’m also hungry and constantly wanting attention.”

“On it!” Larry said, removing his arm from around you and running off towards the kitchen. You were confused for a moment, looking at Sal questioningly. He just shrugged, and a moment later, Larry was back with a plate of food in one hand as his other draped back around your shoulder. 

“Food? Check. Attention? Check.” Larry said with a smile. “I’m totally nailing this boyfriend thing.”

You snorted. “Boyfriend already? It just seems like five minutes ago you asked me on our first date. Oh where has the time gone?” 

“It was more like three minutes ago.” Sal replied, stealing a cookie from the plate in Larry’s hand. You followed his lead and shoved one in your mouth as well. 

“Details, man, details.” 

As the night continued on, Larry didn’t let up on the whole ‘boyfriend’ act. It was a little confusing but you found yourself not completely minding the attention. He kept his arm around you, called you really stupid pet names and always made sure that there was food on your plate. You had to admit for a moment that it felt nice to have someone else putting in the effort for once. You were usually the one to pay attention to the little details, to move things forward, to think of things that you and a possible significant other to do together but to have someone do the same in return? It just felt nice. 

So nice that you continued playing along, and with you on board did Larry crank it up to eleven. It even started to feel more like a challenge- who could out-date the other one? He called you a pet name? You threw an over the top compliment back. Larry got you more food? You hand fed him from the plate. It was absolutely disgusting, and you were loving every minute of it. 

Of course, every relationship has its ups and downs. Larry complimented Sal on his ugly holiday sweater by calling it ‘the sexiest thing he’d ever seen’ and it was only logical that you faked offence and dumped him on the spot. Heartbroken, Larry had no choice but to try and rebound with Sal, who was having absolutely none of this nonsense. However, when you were done with your soda, you realized the error of your ways and begged him to take you back and also please get you another drink. 

Before the end of the night, you and Larry would have broken up 3 times, gotten engaged, called off a wedding, and had announced that you two were going to elope. It was all very stupid and very dramatic. 

But before that, it was time for the cake to be brought in. Lisa cut the lights and Henry walked in with a large cake with two candles that had 18 on them. 

“Happy birthday, Sal!” Henry said to his son, and Sal shook his head a bit. 

“Wow, what a surprise that I did not see coming. At all. I’m super surprised!” Sal said with a slight laugh in his voice. 

Larry was the first to start singing Happy Birthday, and it was only when everyone was done that everyone realized that maybe this wasn’t the most well thought-out plan. 

Sal, taking it in stride, took a deep breath and blew.

Of course, nothing happened as he was still wearing his prosthetic which blocked his mouth. 

“Oh, maybe we could-” started Lisa, when she was interrupted by a sudden change of music. The pleasant generic holiday songs suddenly swapped over to what you think was a heavy metal cover of Jingle Bell Rock. 

Larry jumped up and moved away starting to thrash his head back and forth. Sal took the moment of confusion to unstrap the bottom of his prosthetic and blow out the candles before strapping it back on. He was next to get up and run over to Larry and start headbanging. 

You suddenly remembered seeing Larry and Sal switch the tape earlier. You wondered if they planned on this during the cake or it if it was just a coincidence. It didn’t matter much though as Ashley and Chug also got up and joined the headbanging, Jamie was quick to follow. You looked over at Todd and Neil who shrugged, Todd setting his glasses carefully on the table and also joining in. 

There was no way that Lisa and Henry had intended a yuletide holiday mini-pit for Sal’s birthday, but there they were. It was quite the site to see all these high schoolers banging their heads in their ugly sweaters and Santa hats for three minutes straight. Lisa quickly pulled out a camera and took a snapshot of everyone which was bound to be blurry with all the movement but it was okay. 

At some point during the song your Santa hat flew off, but you didn’t care. The rush of adrenaline spending this moment with your friends was enough. When the song ended, it abruptly went back to the soothing holiday music from before. Larry and Sal were laughing hard and high fiving each other. 

“And how long had you been planning that?” asked Lisa. 

“Ab... about two days.” laughed Larry. 

“We didn’t plan on it happening during the cake, just kinda happened that way.” added Sal. “Couldn’t have picked a better time though.” 

“At least you guys didn’t knock anything over.” Henry said with an amused smile. “Was everyone in on it?” 

  
“Nope, just us. Having everyone join was just an added bonus.” Larry reached down and handed you back a Santa hat. You noticed that his had been flung off as well. 

Lisa cut the cake for everyone and Henry pulled out a gift for Sal- a vinyl copy of Sanitys Fall first single. You felt a little bad that you hadn’t brought anything for Sal, but considering no one else had known that this was a surprise party (well, except the birthday boy, ironically) it was okay. You mentally made a note to get him something or do something special for him later. 

Cake time was filled with small talk and a relaxed atmosphere. Larry fed you a bite of cake, but in typical fashion it looked like he was trying to shove half a slice in your mouth instead. It took you a good minute to finally chew it up, followed by a few huge gulps of your drink. The whole thing was dumb, but it was all in good fun. 

Once everyone had their fill of cake, Henry announced that it was movie time and everyone else wondered back to the sitting area. 

Larry sat next to you on the couch, his arm wrapping around your waist. Even though the night had been filled with playful teasing and flirting, there was something about having him so close in the dimly lit room that felt a little more... intimate. Every flirt and touch tonight had been something of a joke for everyone’s enjoyment, a good goof to make everyone else laugh. Not this though, in the light of the tv that Henry was setting up, it was a gesture for just the two of you. 

Your hips were pressed against Larry’s, and his arm was around your waist and it felt like something a real couple should be doing. You looked around to confirm it; Chug had his arm around Maples shoulders on the other side of the room and Todd was holding hands with Neil. Your heart was starting to beat faster and you felt your face heating up, suddenly glad that it was dark in the apartment. 

This really wasn’t like you, to get so flustered. You were used to being in control of situations like this, but Larry had suddenly thrown you off your game. He had created a tension between you two and you could tell that he was feeling it too, whatever it was. 

The best way to take back the situation, you decided, was to just lean into it. Enjoy the attention from your (admittedly) attractive friend and for the next 45 minutes, just pretend that this on-going gag between the two of you was real. Maybe it’d even distract you from your lingering feelings for-

Sal plopped next to you on the couch. Ah, yes, of course, why would anything be easy? Nope, you were going to ignore the blue haired boy next to you and watch this cheesy holiday special, and not think about how last week he held you while you cried. 

Ah, fuck. This was gonna be a very long hour, wasn’t it? 

The first few minutes were a slog to get through, as you mind wouldn’t let you focus on anything but the two boys who you were sitting between. It got easier as the plot picked up though, soon you found yourself able to focus all of your attention to the television. At least until you felt something heavy press against your shoulder. 

Prosthetic slightly askew, the side of Sal’s head was pressing limply against you. Sal was completely conked out against your shoulder and you had no idea what to do. As much as you had joked about wanting to be between these two boys, this wasn’t exactly what you had in mind. 

You glanced at Larry, hoping that he could help you out, but he was engrossed in the movie, not paying any attention to the fact that his best friend had fallen asleep on his fake-girlfriend. Looking at Sal, you considered nudging him awake, but remembering how hard it was for him to fall asleep most nights anyway stopped you. Who were you to prevent him from getting some much needed sleep? He was probably still messed up from some of the all-nighters during testing. 

The thumping in your chest felt so loud as if everyone should be able to hear it. Even worse, you couldn’t tell if your heart was pounding for Sal or Larry. You still liked Sal, that much was true. Getting over Sal was a slow process, some days you’d be okay with just his friendship but some days you still found yourself daydreaming about being more. Shutting down those feelings were never easy, but they were necessary. 

With Larry it was always an easy friendship, and you had to admit that you found the greasy stoner look more attractive than you should have. Plus the attention he had been giving you all night had been so nice. 

What did that really mean? Yes, the attention was nice but was it nice because it came from Larry or would you be feeling this way about anyone who paid attention to you right now? You tried to imagine someone else in Larry’s place. Chug? It didn’t feel right with Chug but that felt more because you didn’t feel comfortable daydreaming about anyone with a significant other. 

Damn, that was almost everyone in your friend group by this point. Why did this have to be so confusing? On top of all that, you didn’t even know what was going through Larry’s head right now. As far as you knew, this was still just part of the joke and you were now the punchline. 

Something warm snapped you back into reality, making your head spin. Larry’s thumb was rubbing small circles on your hip idly, sending small sparks up your spine. Now he was just playing dirty at a game you weren’t sure you knew all the rules to. 

Between the two boys who you found very attractive it was starting to get very warm in more ways than you wanted to admit. You were going to need a long shower after this, and you weren’t sure if it was going to be a warm or cold one at this point. 

Your mind continued to wrestle with itself for the rest of the movie until the end credits rolled. Larry got up without a beat and announced that he needed to use the bathroom, leaving you to deal with the still passed out birthday boy on your shoulder. A few months ago you would have been thrilled to be his pillow and let him sleep for as long as he wanted, but now it felt wrong to have him so close. 

“Sal, you’re drooling on me.” You said quietly, nudging him awake. Sal sat up, taking a moment to remember what was going on before adjusting his prosthetic. 

“Ah, sorry about that.” he said. 

“No worried, I’m gonna go help Lisa and Henry clean up.” you told him before quickly moving to the kitchen where the two adults were putting away food and taking down some of the decorations that you had lent. 

“Thanks again for the decorations and helping set up.” Henry said before waving goodbye to Chug and Maple who were headed out. 

“It’s no problem. Like I said, my parents love the holidays. Half this stuff wasn’t gonna get put up at our place anyway. 

As the rest of the guests filled out it was just you, the boys, and the adults left to clean up the party. It was quiet, but not uncomfortably so between the five of you. You were looking forward to going back to your place and having some quiet time away from boys. 

“I think that’s the last of your decorations.” Lisa said, setting the box on the counter. “Lar-bear we’re almost done here. Why don’t you help her carry those back to her apartment then you’re free to go.”

So much for having some time alone to think. You were about to protest and say that you could handle taking it back on your own, but Larry was already lifting the box. 

“Great party, Sally Face.” Larry said, giving his best friend a fist bump. 

“Glad you two could make it.” Sal replied, before leaning in and giving you a quick hug. 

These boys were so good at playing dirty it wasn’t even funny. 

“Thanks for the invite. See you all later!” you said with a smile and followed Larry out into the hallway. There was an awkward tension between the two of you still, he hadn’t said much to you since the beginning of the movie, and as much as you wanted to ask him about his arm around your waist earlier, you were worried that bringing it up would make things worse. 

“So where’d you find that Jingle Bell Rock cover?” you asked, trying to change the mood as you two got into the elevator. 

“I found the tape while looking through my dad’s old music collection.” Larry replied. “I was wondering why he had a tape of generic holiday music and just stumbled onto it.” 

“Ah, I see.” You wanted to smack your head. Way to accidentally bring up his disappeared dad. Good job. The awkward tension returned to full force for those few long moments between exiting the elevator and entering your apartment. You flipped on your light switch and the apartment lit up like a Christmas tree. In fact it lit up the actual Christmas tree in the middle of your living room, along with strings of lights all over the apartment. 

“What the fuck...?” Larry started.

“I know.”

“I knew your parents were into-”

“I know.”

“You weren’t kidding at all.”

“I knooooow.”

“Actually I think you downplayed it.”

“Yes Larry, as I have stated, I know.”

Larry set down the box of decorations next to the door and invited himself in to look around. The whole living room looked like something out of a Hallmark movie, with silver and gold decorations all over the place. Snowflakes were plastered over the walls, garland was draped over every window, and along the wall hanging over the tv were three hand-decorated stockings, each carefully customized for you and your parents. Larry was looking over them with a slightly confused expression. 

“It’s a tradition for my family.” you explained. “We’ve used the same stockings every year since I was born. Each year we get to pick a pin or a decoration or something to add on to the stocking that we feel defines our year. The only rule is that we have to keep it winter themed, so it can get pretty abstract.”

“That’s... kinda fuckin’ neat.” Larry said, looking over your stocking. “Care to share with the class?” 

You looked over the stocking and pointed to a very small present box that was hot glued on. “Okay, so I added that when I was about fifteen right? So when I was a kid I was a total space cadet and had a lot of trouble making and keeping friends because I was very introverted.”

“You? Introverted?” Larry said with a surprised tone. 

“We moved around a lot.” You shrugged. “I guess I got used to being by myself to the point where I stopped making an effort. But anyway, this was the year I moved here and met you and Sal and Ash. Between the three of you, I felt more grounded. Plus my parents promised that this was the last time we were moving so anyway, long story short, I glued that gift box on my stocking because I felt more... present.”

“That was terrible but also so fucking adorable I don’t even think I can be mad at it.” Larry said with a straight face. 

You shrugged. “You guys are the best friends I’ve ever had.” 

Larry moved away from the stockings and looked around the decorations more. You were more than happy to point out which ones held the most sentimental value and which were bargain bin decorations that your parents just had to have. 

“And what’s with the frog?” He asked suddenly, pointing up at a stuffed frog hanging above your head. It was green with a santa hat with thick red lips. Your heart suddenly sped up to sonic speeds as you realized where you two were standing. 

“It’s not a frog.” you said quietly. 

“I think I know a frog when I see one.” 

“It’s a toad.”

“What’s the diff-”

“A mistle-toad.”

Larry let out a groan at the pun. “Do all of your decorations have a terrible pun attached to them?”

“I don’t wanna hear that from you.” You laughed. “You’re like the king of terrible puns.” 

“Yeah but I don’t deserve this kind of punishment.”

“...Pun-ishment.” 

“Don’t start.” 

“I swear it was pun-intentional.” you continued. 

“Oh my god, shut up.”

“Make me.”

There are fewer words known to up any sexual tension between two people than the combination of ‘shut up’ followed by ‘make me’. Those two phrases alone can change the course of an entire relationship between two people. 

“Okay.” 

What?

Larry reached out and placed a hand on your lower back, pulling you closer to him. He stopped for a moment, as if to give you a chance to pull away or make any indication that you didn’t want what was about to happen to happen. You found yourself unable to move any way but forward into your friend, which he took as a sign to go ahead. 

‘He has enough nose for both him and Sal.’ you found yourself thinking.

His lips were warm and slightly chapped against yours but it was far from unpleasant. Warmth spread throughout your body and in the back of your head a small voice said that tonight's shower was gonna be a cold one. Your hands found his hips and you felt the cold metal of his wallet chain against your warm hands for a moment. The kiss was in a weird limbo where though it was more chaste, there was a hint of wanting more from both sides. 

You were about to give into the side of you that wanted more when Larry pulled back, his cheeks a bit red. 

“I gotta admit, I’ve kinda wanted to do that all night.” he said quietly, taking you by surprise. 

“Do... you like me?” you asked, hands still on his hips. 

“I don’t know.” he admitted. “I mean, you’re really funny and easy to talk to and you look really hot tonight. I’m gonna be completely honest, I’m definitely thinking with my dick right now more than anything.”

You found yourself smiling up at him, feeling a little relieved. If Larry had admitted to having any feelings for you right then, you weren’t sure if you could handle it, but if your close attractive friend was just wanting to kiss you, that was okay, right?

He took a step back. “I’m sorry. That was probably a bad idea. I know you’re still dealing with the whole Sally Face thing and this isn’t helping-” 

“Larry, do you wanna make-out?” you asked. He looked at you in surprise and you gave him a small smirk. “Best way to get over someone is to get under someone else, right?” 

“Are you sure? I don’t wanna complicate our friendship or make anything weird between us.”

“I won’t catch feelings if you don’t.” you said, lowering your voice a little. 

He stared at you for a moment before grabbing your hand and dragging you over to the couch. “Oh fuck yes.” were the last words he said before pulling you into another kiss. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sal x Reader is still end game.


	5. Chapter 5

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> You have a DREAM and think back on MEMORIES.

Larry didn’t stay long that night, at least no more than two hours. It was getting late, past midnight, and though he didn’t have an official curfew, he didn’t want to make his mom too worried or suspicious. He put his long-since cast off shirt back on and gave you a hug and a kiss on the forehead before he headed to the basement floor.

You closed the door behind you and made your way back to your room. As you changed into your pjs you noticed a small mark on your collarbone, and felt very thankful that it was sweater season. You didn’t really want to worry about covering hickeys with make-up come Sunday when your parents came home. You’d already had the talk way too many times with your parents. As lucky as you were that they were more than willing to tell you where they kept condoms in the apartment, you really weren’t feeling that right now. 

Sleep came easily to you that night, without thoughts of overthinking for once. Though it was mostly because you were so tired from everything that happened that day. Within minutes of laying down you were passed out. 

_ It‘s almost time for school, the late autumn sun threatens to set and yet you worry about being late. You are in the school hall, your class is towards the gym but each turn of the corner puts you between your old elementary school and your current high school. But that’s normal, right? Yes, this is what “school” is. _

_ Travis is in the library giving you a dirty look from behind the help desk. He calls you a dirty harlot for kissing Larry. You aren’t allowed to use the computers anymore. _

_ Class has started and you’re late. You wonder if it’s even worth going to class since you can’t open your locker and you’re late. Oh, you aren’t supposed to be here. This is your old elementary school anyway. It would be best if you left. _

_ You exit the building; something feels off. You are outside of your high school and your childhood neighborhood is right across the street despite it being a few states away. _

_ There’s someone next to you. You tell them you think you’re dreaming as if you are commenting on the weather. _

_ “Oh, that’s cool.” they seem to agree. You ask them what you think you should do if this really is just a dream. _

_ “You should probably leave. It’s not really interesting here.” _

_ School is a dull place for a semi-lucid dream, you decide walking back into the building. If this is a dream, then you might as well find some company. _

_ You walk into the first classroom you see. Larry is sitting on his desk and you tell him that this is a dream and that he should explore with you. He responds by standing up and throwing his backpack across the room before jumping down and following you out. _

_ He asks if you usually know if you’re dreaming and in kind you explain this has only happened a handful of times. You’re outside on the sidewalk, he tells you to try and fly. _

_ You doggy paddle in the air at best for a few seconds before landing on your feet. You know you can’t actually fly and that ruins your dream logic. Larry is still impressed that you did as much. _

_ It’s nighttime and the street lamps are lit. The moon is full and close, way too close. The craters of the moon are more prominent than you’ve ever seen and you feel uneasy. You tell Larry you don’t like the moon. _

_ He makes a big leap over your head, landing easily as though for a moment gravity didn’t bind him. He lands in front of you and you keep walking. It’s Halloween and pumpkins are everywhere. One is carved to look like Sal’s mask. _

_ Larry asks if this is your dream then where is Sal? You aren’t sure. It’s honestly pretty rare that people you know play a big role in your dream. You simply shrug your shoulders and Sal appears in the distance before walking into the shadows of the woods. You cry out for him but he’s gone and you go after him. _

_ Larry has disappeared and you run through the trail and find yourself at the edge of a lake. Sal stands at the edge next to a doc and you approach him. _

_ He asks you, if he’s Jason-chic does that mean he should jump in the lake and scare children? You deny his request, noting that the stuffed animal you won him so many months ago (which he isn’t even holding) would be ruined. You tell him you’re dreaming and he nods, unphased. _

_ He says that even if it is a dream he’s real and you agree. Of course he’s real, and you’re sure that when you wake up that both of your friends will remember this adventure. It is science and a fact. _

_ You feel Larrys’ arms around your waist and you look at Sal who’s still staring out into the lake. This is normal, right? You close your eyes and someone kisses you and you kiss back. Larrys’ nose pressed into your cheek. The lips on yours turn hard and unmoving like plastic. Sal’s hands were so nice and cool. No, wait Larrys’ hands were warm. No- _

_ You open your eyes and gasp in horror taking a step back. Sals’ mask is gone and his face is distorted, glitching, loud, static- _

_ Larry asks if you’re really going to look at his best friend like that. You can barely hear what he’s saying over the static. Sal says’ something but his voice is distorted. Sal reaches a hand out but you push it away as the world around you starts to pulse. You don’t deserve Sal You don’t deserve Larry You don’t deserve You don’t deserve You don’t deserve you don’t deserve- _

The world was quiet as you woke up, the distorted sounds of the dream halting in an instant. Outside the sun was just starting to rise but still you found yourself unable to move from the nightmare. You took a few slow breaths and began to relax back into your bed, reassuring yourself that it was only a dream. 

_ You don’t deserve- _

No, you weren’t going to think about it. You were not going to let some stupid dream tell you what you did or didn’t deserve.

_Sal deserves better._ _You claim to like him yet kiss his best friend._

‘Shut up.’ you think to yourself. ‘I’m allowed to move on!’ 

You spent the next hour trying to get back to sleep, but ended up tossing and turning instead until you gave up and made your way to the living room. You laid down on the couch and turned on the tv in the hopes that some cartoons would help you turn off your mind. 

_ The couch still smells like Larry. _

It took you three minutes to find some air conditioner to make the couch smell like gingerbread. That turned out to be a small mistake when the scent was too overpowering. Giving up on laying around you started putting away all the decorations that you had brought over from the previous night and having some breakfast. 

By this point it was 9 am, and you dared to glance at your phone for the first time since you woke up. You didn’t know if you were hoping that Larry would text you or not. 

There were no direct messages, but there were a few in the group chat. 

ToddFace: Thanks for inviting us to the party, Sal! 

SallyFace: glad you and neil could make it!

AshleyFace: Jamie had fun too. Shes looking forward to seeing you all again

SallyFace: lol glad we didn’t scare anyones date off

Had anything with Larry not happened last night, you would have thrown in a “Sal you could never scare me off ;)” but instead you closed the chat. No reason to make things harder on yourself than it already was.

So many times you found yourself staring at individual conversations with your friends. So many times you considered reaching out to talk but you faltered each time. It had never been hard for you to reach out to a friend before this whole mess with Sal and Larry so why was it hard now? You used to pride yourself on letting your friends know when you were hurt or confused or just needed to vent but it felt impossible right now. 

The rest of the day went by with nothing to report. There was some scattered small talk in the group about holiday plans, christmas lists, inside jokes, and questioning about what would be the best way to sneak snacks into a movie theater with increasingly weird food. All good distractions until you found yourself sucked into a computer game that lasted you until bed.

...

Sunday came with your parents waking you up with bright and happy smiles on their faces telling you to get packed because you were all going to the old lake house! 

A feeling of excitement and unease spread over you. On one hand, you loved going to that lake house with your parents. After spending so much time moving around as a kid and teen, that lake house was the one consistent place you could go that would be unchanged. 

On the other, there was no wifi in the house and even with unlimited data, the signal was spotty at best and non-existent at worst. You’d be cut off from your friends for the next two weeks. It would be after Christmas that you’d see them again. You wouldn’t even really get a chance to say goodbye to them either. 

But this is what you wanted, right? A chance to get away from everything to really think things out. You pulled your suitcase and started shoving clothes haphazardly into it. Not like you really needed to dress nice to be around your parents. It’d be two weeks of board games, decorating yet ANOTHER tree, carols, eggnog, and every other cheesy christmas cliche your parents could think of. 

Still though, you grabbed your laptop and charger. When your parents were making kissy faces at each other, this could be a good time to catch up on all those games you’d been meaning to play. Maybe even watch some movies or-

Your phone dinged twice, alerting you to two messages from Sal and Larry and your heart jumped slightly. No, you needed to calm down. It was just the group chat and they’re just shit posting. 

It was not the group that. 

LarryFace: hey I got some free time today, wanna hang?

SallyFace: So it’s been a while since we’ve got to see each other one on one. Are you busy today? 

You could almost laugh at how absurd this whole had become. Why is it that every time you wanted to clear your head, these two managed to have the worst possible timing. It was almost a blessing that your parents came home just to whisk you off on a four hour drive to the middle of nowhere. 

You responded to Larry first. 

BlankFace: Hey sorry I can’t. My parents are actually taking me to the lake house for a few weeks

LarryFace: oh that’s a bummer. Any idea when youll be back?

BlankFace: Not til after Christmas, looks like. 

LarryFace: wanna hang out when you get back?

BlankFace: It’s a date-

You delete the last message, changing your mind. 

BlankFace: Sounds like a plan!

Your direct your attention to Sal’s message, hesitating on how you want to approach it. He hadn’t asked to hang out one on one since you two talked things out. There was a slight pang in your chest that you wished so badly would go away. What was it about Sal that was so hard to get over? He wasn’t your first crush, or even the first guy to turn you down. 

BlankFace: I’m really sorry, I wish I could but my parents are taking me on vacation for the next few weeks and I’ll be out of town til after Christmas. 

SallyFace: They’re taking you today?

BlankFace: Yeah, you know how they are. Overly spontaneous during the holidays. I’m packing now. 

SallyFace: Do you want any help?

You typed and deleted the word yes. There was an insistent thumping in your chest, telling you to say yes but you pushed it back. If you saw him right now, after making up with him and making out with Larry, you were sure that you’d end up saying or doing something you shouldn’t. 

BlankFace: I’m almost done, thanks though! 

You grabbed your backpack and dumped it on the floor before shoving your toiletries in it. Then you reached under your bed and grabbed a shoe box and fitting it into your bag. You flipped through the binder that was in your backpack and pulled out some of its contents, shoving them into a side pocket. 

SallyFace: When are you leaving?

“Are you done packing? You’re mother and I are ready to go when you are!” you dad called from the living room. 

“Almost done! Give me two seconds!” you replied, shoving your chargers into your backpack, and grabbing your headphones. 

BlankFace: Now.

Within moments you were in the backseat of the car as it pulled out of Addison’s designated parking lot. Your headphones were in, but before your music kicked on, you swore you heard something. 

Turning behind you, Sal was running after the car before he seemed to run out of breath and wave at you. You waved back, watching his figure grow smaller in the distance. A few months ago he had been a few inches shorter than you, but looking at him now, had he grown a bit? What had you really missed out on in those embarrassing months after the failed date? 

‘He came to say goodbye.’ you thought to yourself as his figure disappeared. ‘He came to say goodbye and I snubbed him because I’m still a coward.’ 

The early morning was a good excuse to lean against the cool window and pretend to sleep. You covered yourself up with the blanket that your parents kept in the car during the cold months and allowed a few tears to escape your eyes. 

When did you become someone who couldn’t face their own feelings? A few months ago you had always been so honest with everyone about everything for the most part. Or maybe, that was a lie. Did all that flirting with Sal really count as the truth? Thinking back, you never did have a chance to really say how you felt about him, even as a friend. 

Guess you weren’t as mature as you thought. Maybe you just always hid the big truths with smaller, flashier truths. 

SallyFace: see u when u get back. I’ll miss u. 

‘I already miss you.’

...

It was late afternoon when your parents pulled into the driveway of the small lake house. You’d lost signal a while ago but you’d had it long enough to tell the group chat that you were gone for a bit and that you’d miss out on the next few weeks. Ashley promised to send memes by snail mail, and Todd said to have fun. 

The lack of electronic entertainment wasn’t a big deal for the next few hours as you and your parents set up decorations and going out to chop down the tree with your dad. 

“So, why did we decorate the apartment as much as we did when we were gonna have Christmas here?” you asked as you untangled string lights. 

“Because the holidays should be celebrated in different ways!” said your dad, wrestling with getting the tree to stand straight. “At home we can have a flashy Christmas but here we can be away from it all and just enjoy the simple things!” 

You weren’t sure if that was a real answer, but you had no reason to say no to it. 

“Tomorrow I think we’ll turn on the fireplace.” mused your mom. “Yes, and we can roast chestnuts and marshmallows. And maybe if you’re good, Santa will come and leave an early gift!” 

You couldn’t help but let out a small laugh. Though your parents had given you the “Santa isn’t real” talk many years ago, they still liked to believe in the spirit of the holiday to the fullest. You wondered what was it about your parents' relationship that made everything so happy? Normally, you ignored it whenever they started going on and on about how in love they were but after what happened with Sal and Larry, you couldn’t help but wonder; what’s it mean to be in such a loving relationship? 

That night after dinner, you decided to ask them. The three of you sat around playing a card game, when you finally managed to spit it out. 

“Mom, dad?” you started. “How did you two first know that you wanted to date each other?” 

Your dad looked a little surprised. “Well, it all started on the first weekend of December a little over twenty years ago- I saw your mom standing in the park and-”

“‘-Said to yourself “that’s the woman I’m going to marry’. Then you took a chance and asked her on a date and you both went dancing a five star hotel and proposed that very night.” you finished. “I know that, you’ve told me the story a million times but... what really happened?”

He smiled at you. “I guess you are a little too old for fairy tales aren’tcha, kid?” you nodded. 

“I was lost.” your mother explained. “It was cold and it was miserable and it was raining- not snowing. I was supposed to check into a hotel for a business meeting that evening but I couldn’t figure out where it was, when your father approached me.” 

He took her hand. “She looked like she was having a rough day, so I offered to walk her where she needed to be. Turns out It was at the hotel I was working for at the time.”

“I had graduated college a year before, and your father was working his way through trade school.” your mom added. 

“Even half drenched and frazzled, I still thought you were beautiful.”

“I thought you were cute enough for a bellhop.” they both laughed. 

“I did ask her out though, the next day. I was clocking out and she was about to leave and-” 

“I asked _ you _ out, dear.” your mother gently corrected. “I asked if you wanted to grab coffee.” 

“And your mother, the charmer, asked me out. She swept me off my feet and was enchanting and funny and wonderful and-”

“Dad. Please.” 

“Right, sorry. She was just really something special. Still is, of course! But our first date was us sitting in a hole-in-the-wall cafe, decorated for Christmas with the snow falling outside.” 

“That’s it?”

“That’s it.”

“So how did you know that you wanted to see each other?” you asked. “How did you know it was going to last?”

“We didn’t.” your mother explained, honestly. “We saw each other once, and then wanted to see each other again, and we kept up that pattern until we realized that we always wanted to see each other.” 

“Is that what love is?” you asked quietly. 

“It’s what it means to us.” your father said, looking your mom and for a moment you didn’t see your parents. You saw two people twenty years younger and madly in love. 

“I think I like that story better than the fairy tale.” you admit. 

“I wouldn’t trade our story for anything in the world.” your dad said. “Now, does this sudden interest in asking about dating and love have anything to do with... anything?” 

“I like Sal.” you admitted finally. 

“A fine young man! Very polite though I do wish he’d let us take a peak under that mask.” Your dad said, taking a sip of his drink. 

“It’s a prosthetic, dear. He needs it.” your mom chided gently. 

“Sal doesn’t like me.” you added. 

“Now I _ can _ hurt him for you, though it would be a long drive back.” 

“Dad _ no.” _

The floodgates opened at that moment, and you told them everything. About how long you’ve had feelings for him, the date, his face (dad tried to press for details about what you saw, but your mom shushed him), and finally about Larry kissing you. You fudged some details about how much kissing went down, saying it was just a goodnight kiss rather than how far it went. 

“I just don’t know what to do.” you said. “I’m so confused and I don’t know how I feel about either of them anymore. I don’t understand how this can be so easy for some people.”

“You’re father and I did get lucky, but that doesn’t mean we both didn’t have our share of past relationships that weren’t messy and confusing.” your mother said, handing you a mug of hot chocolate.

“Lord knows I messed up plenty of good relationships before I met your mother. The main thing you need to do to have any relationship work is to build a strong foundation of trust and communication.”

“If you feel like you don’t know what to say, maybe write them each a letter explaining how you feel.” your mom suggested. “You always did like to pass notes in class.”

You couldn’t stop yourself from smiling a little. “That’s not a bad idea.” you admitted. “Maybe I will.” 

“You’re a smart girl. I’m sure you’ll figure it out.” Your father said. “But if you’re going to be kissing anymore boys- now I do know that I want grandkids or at least grand_ puppies _ someday- but you know the condoms are in the-”

“WELL GOODNIGHT MOM AND DAD, GREAT TALK. SEE YOU IN THE MORNING.” you suddenly stood up and rushed into your room. As gross as your dad could be, the talk had made you feel better, just a little. 

You sat at the small desk in the corner and turned on the lamp. Reaching into your backpack you pulled out the shoe box that you had crammed in there and opened it. Your mom was right, you did love to pass notes in school. You loved it so much that you tried your best to keep every single one that had been passed between you and your friends, carefully dated, folded, and set in this very shoe box for safe keeping. 

In this box was every memory you had since moving to Addison Apartments; notes between you and Ashley in art, scribbles and doodles from Larry, old tests that Todd helped you study for with encouraging comments in the margins, and misheard lyrics from Sal. 

Sal and Larry had been fighting over lyrics to a metal song they had been listening to, each hearing different words through the fried vocals of the lead singer. It had become a game that they’d pass the headphones around to everyone at the table to try and decipher what was being sung. Each time, Todd would look up the song online and announce who had come the closest. Usually everyone was wrong. 

There were even a few pictures in the box from Ashley’s old Polaroid; everyone wearing their hair (as best they could) in pigtails on April Fool’s day, Larry and Sal at Homecoming with Sal wearing a stunning yellow dress, all of the boys on top of each other in a dog pile, Maple painting Ashley’s nails, and one of you and Sal.

This was one you hadn’t even shown Sal. In the photo, he was playing a game on his Gear Boy and was attempting to explain how to get through the level. In that moment though, you weren’t looking at the screen, you were looking at him. Ashley had managed to capture you looking so softly at him that you had to make sure that he never ever saw it until you were married with children or puppies. 

You never did beat that level. 

Looking through all of this, you grabbed a few sheets of paper and started writing. 

_ Sal Fisher, today is the day that I’m going to tell you everything and then I’ll be able to move on. _

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> You were supposed to see Chug when you left but I decided to let you all have a Sal moment because I'm so nice. Sorry for the delay, I had writers block.


	6. Chapter 6

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> You finally get some signal, and miss some signals.

The next week passed quickly. Despite the lack of internet and signal on your phone, your parents kept you plenty busy with movies, board games, cooking, and other activities. In your downtime, you played games on your laptop and read books that you had been meaning to catch up on for the past few months. 

It was a much needed week of rest and relaxation. After writing down your feelings and stuffing the letters in your shoe box you felt better, less anxious. You weren’t sure what the future would hold when you returned and saw the two boys face to face, but at the moment, you felt like it would all be okay. 

You were sitting in your room, watching a movie on the small projector that your parents had surprised you with earlier in the week. Sorry,  _ Santa _ surprised you with. It had been getting a ton of use as you had spent almost an entire day moving it around to see what surfaces it worked best on. You were sure that when the weather was warmer it would be perfect for movie nights in the tree house. 

Your dad knocked on the door, and you let him enter. “Grab your shoes and coat, we’re going into town to do some shopping!” he announced.

That did sound like fun. As much as you enjoyed the quiet of the lake house, it was starting to get a little stale. A change of pace sounded nice. 

It wasn’t a long drive into the small downtown area, as secluded as the lake house was the area around it was a bit of a tourist destination. It still had a rustic feel to it, despite the two or three shops that were there to just sell cheap souvenirs. As soon as you stepped out of the car your phone started to buzz in your pocket... and buzz... and buzz...

There was something amusing and horrifying about getting a weeks worth of texts and notifications all at once. It seemed like an eternity waiting for your poor phone to calm down and give you your last ping. You tried to be patient with your phone but after a few minutes you realized that part of the pings were coming from the group chat, where your friends were having an active conversation. 

You immediately went through and deleted all the notifications, deciding to go through everything at your own pace. Your mom and dad let you go off on your own, telling you when and where to meet back up with them in a few hours. You’d been so good at not complaining (too much) about the lack of wifi that they didn’t mind giving you a break. 

You checked your texts and DMs first and found that Larry, Sal, and Ashley had all messaged you. 

LarryFace: Damn, I wish you loved me enough to win me an ugly stuffed animal. 

LarryFace: [Pic_335.jpeg] 

You looked at the attachment with surprise. The picture was of the inside of the treehouse, the ugly stuffed animal you had won Sal so many months ago sitting in the corner, covered in string lights and topped with Larry’s santa hat. 

Sal kept it? You couldn’t help but feel happy. You were sure that he had thrown it out or shoved it in a closet to never see the light of day again. 

BlankFace: What can I say? I’m a master of romance when I don’t completely fuck up. 

Ashley’s message was next. 

AshleyFace: Dunno when you’re gonna be back, but NYE party at my parents place.

BlankFace: I’ll see when I’ll be back. Might be a chance I’ll be exhausted but I’ll let you know!

Sal had a few messages, which surprised you. The first was a few hours after you left. 

SallyFace: sorry i missed you. I really wanted to say bye in person. 

The next were from the other day. 

SallyFace: when you get back, do you want to go do something together?

SallyFace: it’s been a while since I kicked your ass at Mario Kart

SallyFace: see you after Christmas

BlankFace: say that to my face and not online and see whos ass gets kicked

SallyFace: You’re on!

You hadn’t expected a response so quickly, but a feeling of relief washed over you. For once, the sight of Sal’s name popping up didn’t spin your head around or make your heart burst out of your chest. Your mom was right, getting your feelings out on paper really did help. You could finally see Sal as your dear friend, and that was that. 

Your phone buzzed again, more insistently and you realized that Sal was now calling you. 

“Hey?” you answered, fumbling with the phone for a moment. “What’s up?”

“Sorry, I’m restringing my guitar right now and this is easier for me. Is that okay?” he asked. You could hear his voice clearly, signalling that he wasn’t wearing his prosthetic. You could imagine it so clearly in your mind- Sal sitting on his bed, messing with his guitar having a moment to be fully himself. The nose thing was still a bit off-putting but you were getting used to the mental image. 

After all, you doubt that he’d let you see it again after what happened last time. 

“Yeah that’s totally fine.” you said, walking into a nearby cafe. “It’s actually nice to hear a voice that doesn’t belong to either of my parents. Love them, but I already miss you guys.” 

“I understand.” Sal replied. “I love my dad but I don’t think I could handle it if I only had him to talk to.” 

“You’d still have Gizmo.” you offered, then ordered a hot drink from the counter before sitting down in an empty table. 

“Yeah but he spends most of his time watching cop shows and not talking.” Sal replied. “Because, you know, he’s a cat.” 

“You’re so picky about talking.” you teased. 

“I like talking to you, though.” 

“I like talking to you, too.” you said quietly, a feeling of comfort washing over you. “So how’s the gang doing?” 

“Everyone’s okay, I guess.” You imagined him shrugging. “Larry’s been holed up in his room painting for the past few days, and I haven’t seen much of Ashley. Her family is kind of like yours where Christmas is a big deal so she’s had a lot to do. I’ve been hanging out with Todd and Neil when I can.” 

“Yeah? How are they?” 

“The perfect couple as usual.” he gave a small laugh. “Neil’s been helping Todd learn how to program and Todd has been helping Neil build a computer.”

“Sounds like a power-couple to me. Good thing they like us.” 

“Yeah, with their powers I’d be worried about them taking over the world.”

The conversation continued for an hour with you sitting in the small cafe, looking out the window as you talked Sal about everything and nothing. You told him about the lake house and he played you a few chords of a song that he’d been learning. It was the most relaxed you’d felt with Sal in a very long time. Though there was still a piece of you that would always be soft for him, it was something you could handle now. You were okay with being his friend and nothing more. 

“Hey, so I uh... kind of have a question for you.” Sal started, his tone of voice shifting a bit. 

“Yeah? Shoot.”

“It’s uh... it’s about you and Larry.” 

“....Ah....”

“Yeah.”

“...He said something?” you asked, hoping that this wasn’t going where you thought this was going. Your hands felt colder than they had just moments ago. 

“He said that you two kissed.” he confirmed, making you wince slightly. You two hadn’t exactly talked about keeping what had happened a secret, and with how quickly you left you never did have a chance to talk to him in person about what happened. 

“Yeah, we did.” you confirmed. You might as well tell him the truth, there was no use in denying it. 

“Are you two dating now?” 

“I don’t think so.” you swirled your cup, feeling the cool dregs of your drink swirl around. “I... it happened really fast. I mean, he said he wanted to kiss me and that he didn’t know how he actually felt and I just let him, you know? Then my parents surprised me with this trip and I haven’t really had a chance to talk to him about it.” 

“If he asked you out would you say yes?” There was something in his voice, an insistence that he needed to know. 

“I don’t know!” you said a little louder than you meant. A few people in the cafe turned to look at you for a moment, and you face turned red with embarrassment. It was probably time to leave the cafe if you were going to keep talking to him about this. 

“I don’t know.” you repeated quieter as you put your coat back on. “It really hasn’t crossed my mind that he’d actually ask me out or anything. Why, did he say something?” 

Sal was quiet as you left the cafe, stepping back into the cold air of the street. You had wanted to do some window shopping anyway, and you had another hour before you had to meet up with your parents. 

“You two looked really comfortable with each other at my party.” he finally said, avoiding the question. “Maple asked if there was anything going on.” His voice sped up at the end, making you wonder if he was telling the truth. It didn’t seem like Maple to gossip like that, especially with Sal. If she had any questions, you were sure that she’d ask you or Larry directly. 

Sal was always bad at lying. 

“I don’t know if anything is going on.” you said. “If he asked me out, I don’t know. Honestly, I don’t know if I’m in a place to date right now. Not that I have many people clamoring to ask me out anyway.” you laughed slightly. 

“You’re not interested in dating?” he sounded confused. “You? The flirtiest person I know?” 

“I got a lot on my mind, Sal.” you explained. “I’m just now getting over a crush on someone, I don’t know what I want right now and I don’t want to drag any of my friends down as I sort myself out.” 

“But you kissed Larry.” he accused. You frowned, feeling a pang of guilt in your chest. This felt wrong, something didn’t feel right. It wasn’t like Sal to pry like this. Had Larry said something? Was Sal worried that you and Larry hooking up would mess up the dynamic?

“Sal if you have something to say, then say it.” you snapped, feeling slightly upset. Where was all this coming from?

It was quiet for a moment, and you heard him take a deep breath. “I’m sorry.” he said quietly. “You two are my best friends, I just don’t want to see either of you getting hurt. I know Larry makes rash decisions and runs head first into emotions and I’m scared that if something happens you’ll start avoiding everyone again.” 

Your body relaxed slightly. “I’m sorry too. I honestly [beep] don’t know how I feel about Larry, but I am thinking seriously about it while I’m here. [beep].”

“What’s that sound?” 

“Phone’s dying. I [beep] need a new battery.” you replied. 

“I guess I should let you go then.” he said, a slight hint of sadness in his voice. “I’m sorry for snapping at you. I guess with what happened these [beep] past few months I’m worried that I’ll lose you again if something bad happened.”

“You aren’t gonna [beep] lose me.” you said quietly. “Honestly, after I get back I think I’m gonna be okay again [beep] after I talk to Larry.” The beeping on your phone was becoming more insistent as you talked. 

“If you do end up [beep] dating, I’ll support it but [beep] just don’t leave-”

“Sal, I’m not gonna [beep] leave!” you insist, heart pounding in your chest. “Sal the only reason I avoided you was because I was embarrassed that I messed up our date and I liked you!”

There it was, the words were out of your mouth, and to your surprise the words came out in past tense. You had liked him, but that wasn’t what you felt anymore that your brain could tell. You had liked Sal Fisher and now you told him. You held your breath as you waited for a response. He was quiet, and you suddenly wondered if bringing it up had been a terrible idea. 

“Sal...?” you asked, a slight hesitation in your voice. “Hello?” you looked down at your phone and let out a long annoyed sigh. 

Right, of course your phone was dead. How much of that last part did he hear before the line went dead? You weren’t sure and there was no way you’d be able to tell until you got home and talked to him yourself. 

You shoved your phone in your pocket, taking a deep breath. If he heard, he heard. If he didn’t then he didn’t. From this point on, it didn’t matter. You were a free person and you could move on. 

...

The rest of the trip flew by easily with your parents. Christmas came and passed with a blur of carols, cinnamon rolls, stockings, so much food that you all needed a nap, and love. When you weren’t spending time with your parents, you were sorting through your box of notes, or watching movies. At some point you hooked up your laptop to the new projector and your parents watched as you pretended to be a Twitch streamer, explaining the games you were playing. Your dad even joined in, learning how to play simpler point-and-click games as the three of you worked out the puzzles together. 

There were one or two other times where you all went into town, but you decided to leave your phone behind, opting instead to just wear a watch or stay with your parents. You decided that it was more important to really disconnect yourself for a while. It was a good feeling to not be attached to your phone, even if you were starting to miss your favorite sites. 

As you all packed up the car in the late afternoon of the last day of the trip, you thought hard about what you were going to do with Larry. You would need to talk to him at some point about what happened. It was a weird paradox; on one hand you didn’t mind kissing him but you didn’t think you wanted to date him. Sure he had said that he didn’t think he liked you that way, but after two weeks who knows what could have changed. 

The small cabin disappeared behind you from the back seat of the car, and you thought back to Sal running after you waving as you left a few weeks ago. For a moment, you felt hollow, as if you were leaving a piece of yourself behind. It wasn’t until you were half-way home when you suddenly jolted up and frowned. 

You’d left the letter box at the cabin. 

So many memories left behind that you wouldn’t see for at least a few months (if you were lucky).

Maybe it was okay though. With the new year in mind and having sorted out your feelings, a clean slate was what you needed. 

Addison apartments appeared a few hours later, the late afternoon sun quickly disappearing past the horizon. It was now that you found yourself stepping on a new path. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hey guys, I'm not dead! I've just been super busy with work and the holidays. This fic is going to be taking a TINY hiatus as the rest of the fic will probably be heavily influenced by the release of Episode 5 in less than a week! I still have a good idea where the story is going, and how it will end but I do want to see the end of Sally Face before I continue. Thank you all for the support, and if you like my stuff, check me out on tumblr (PastelNacht) for more drabbles!


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